At least three foreign athletes have fallen victim to Malaria and Dengue, forcing them to pull out of the 2010 Commonwealth Games here.

Nigerian table tennis player were suspected to be seriously suffering from Malaria, thus dashing the 2006 Melbourne Games medal-winning team's chances in the event here.

On Saturday, the Nigerian men's team surrendered its bronze medal to India after a 0-3 meltdown against the host.

"I was not feeling so well as my tummy has not been very good, which affected my performance," said Monday Merotohun, the team's veteran player.

He also said that his doubles partner Ekundayo Nasiru was down with malaria.

"He is very sick. He's not been able to eat for the last two days," he added.

The Nigerian team had won two bronze medals in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, the first suspected case of dengue among athletes surfaced after a participant from Falkland Islands was admitted to a city hospital for observation.

The 20-year-old athlete had dengue like symptoms, reported a local daily but officials have yet to confirm if it was dengue.

In Delhi, according to unnamed city health officials, 79 new dengue cases were reported last Friday, and the total number of cases had swelled to 3,938 in the city -- since the onslaught of a monsoon last month.

Source : Bernama