There have been numerous reports of how bad the Olympics village in Rio is – with reports of blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring filtering out as the Games approach.
And now that Indians have started reaching the destination, we are hearing more about first-hand experiences – the first one of which came from the hockey team, as reported by the men’s coach Roelant Oltmans himself, along with a video.
Oltmans wrote to Hockey India chief Narinder Batra that there were only two chairs and four bean bags in the team’s room in Rio – and sitting on the latter will lead to long term injuries. Batra put out chunks of the email Oltmans sent to him in a Facebook post, which also contained a request to spend money on tables and chairs…
“Hockey Indiaé Dr. Batra we found Chairs for Men and Women, totally 28, every room has 2 good ones, for 3360 Reals which is approximately INR 68000. We are still lookin for tables they are expensive which is approximately INR 70000 for 5 tables. Can we purchase chairs and tables? Kind regards Roelant.” (sic)
Batra has given the go-ahead to cover the entire cost immediately, but raised a valid question – shouldn’t these things be handled by the Indian Olympic Association and the team they send to Rio?
“Dear Mr President IOA and Chef De Mission Indian Contingent…Have You all and IOA Staff who have gone to Rio, are on some kind of a Paid Holiday?…,” Batra wrote, creating quite a stir on social media.
Contingents, like the USA’s, will be staying on board a cruise liner docked in Rio and while the Indians are not expected to splurge in something like that — the IOA delegation should at least be taking care of athletes and making sure they are comfortable so that they can concentrate on winning – not worrying about a lack of chairs in their rooms.
Feature image source: AFP