Even as a terrorist threat hangs over Delhi, New Zealand is set to axe the psychologist from its Commonwealth Games team, a move one mental health specialist has labelled "irresponsible".
Delhi was last month cited as a target of global terror organisation al Qaeda, with its commander Ilyas Kashmiri saying the Games, Indian Premier League cricket matches and Hockey World Cup were targets.
Kashmiri's 313 Brigade is an operational arm of al Qaeda, which was blamed for the September 2001 attacks in the United States.
Soon after its threat, New Zealand hockey star striker Simon Child pulled out of the World Cup in Delhi, saying "the heightened security does not create an ideal high performance environment".
Now the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) is set to take its athletes to Delhi without a mental safety net, in the form of a psychologist.
While the final composition of the support team has yet to be announced, NZPA understood the NZOC has decided against a psychologist, though one has been with every Commonwealth and Olympic Games team since 1982.
Sports psychologists learned of the decision only last Friday. They will not speak out publicly, in the hope it might yet be overturned.
One psychologist told NZPA it was a shortsighted move by the NZOC.
"This could be the one Games where mental health support is vital," she said.
"It would be irresponsible not to have some mental health support in place, should there be threats to athletes, or a crisis occur.
"Delhi will be a difficult, distracting and unsettling environment, and athletes will need every tool available if they are to produce their best."
NZOC communications adviser Ashley Abbott told NZPA no decision had been made on who would be in the Games support team, with the final call depending on how many athletes were selected.
Psychologist Gary Hermansson, who has been part of every Commonwealth and Olympic Games team since 1998, declined to comment.
Other sports officials contacted by NZPA said they knew of the decision to omit a psychologist, but as yet only through informal channels.
They would not comment until they had official confirmation.
The previous nine teams going to Olympic and Commonwealth games have included a psychologist, since the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1982.
At Beijing, Hermansson was one of 24 support staff, in a team which included a cultural adviser, fur doctors, a health team leader, two masseuses, two media liaison staff and two physiotherapists.
