Nagoya (TIP): Athletes from across countries, including India, have been subjected to a nightmarish experience in Japan after they reached Nagoya in the Aichi Perfecture for the Asian Games, which officially begins on Saturday, Sept 19. It’s a complete logistical mess in Nagoya and the athletes are bearing the brunt of it. From accommodation to transport to food, nothing is in order in Nagoya.
Some Indian athletes complained that rooms meant for two are being shared by
three at the much-criticised Costa Serena cruise ship, which is being used to accommodate athletes.
The organisational chaos could be understood from the fact that even the home nation’s athletes were reportedly looking for alternative arrangements after
cases of male and female players being allocated shared rooms emerged.
Videos of Varun Sanyal, an MMA fighter who will be representing India at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, narrating his experience were widely shared on social media before some of them were taken down.
Varun, who is the son of Sanjeev Sanyal, a prominent economist and a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) of India, said his name could not be found in the accommodation system despite having a valid Asian Games ID card. He also spoke of the lack of food at the facilities.
Some of the Indian athletes, particularly rowers, were also made to wait for more than 12 hours on Wednesday before they finally got their rooms on the cruise ship just before midnight.
Indian contingent’s Chef de Mission Sahdev Yadav, speaking to PTI, admitted that there was “mismanagement” on the part of the organisers.
One wonders if it is the inexperience of the organising committee which has led to such chaos, or is it simply a lackadaisical approach, an unwillingness, which has resulted in such a mess?
The 30-year-old Varun raised a valid point. “If this happened in India, oh my God, the media would be going crazy, not just in India, but globally. We would’ve been the butt of the joke,” he said.
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