The absence of basic facilities in a "brand new" hotel, where the table tennis technical officials are being put up, has come to light on day one of the competition in the fifth Khelo India Youth Games, in Indore. (More Sports News)
The competition officials were shocked to find out that the hotel they were being accommodated in was inaugurated on the day of their arrival on January 28.
"The company (a leading travel company) who is responsible for booking the hotel for the officials was probably not aware the facility was not yet ready for use. Some of the rooms have no chairs and tables while the others have no mirrors.
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"Most of the officials are 50 plus and are having a hard time staying in the hotel. Two female staff decided to stay in competition venue after seeing the state of affairs in the hotel," a source told PTI on Monday.
Madhya Pradesh is hosting the central government-backed multi-sporting event across nine cities -- Bhopal, Gwalior, Ujjain, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat, Khargone (Maheshwar) besides Indore to conduct 27 disciplines.
The table tennis event is taking place at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium in Indore, with 31 players participating in the U-19 category.
Among other logistical issues faced by the event, a few players had complained of not getting their uniform on time.
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"A couple of Karnataka players approached the technical officials over the delay in getting playing kits, but a system error showed they had already received it. The issue was then sorted out by the officials," the source added.
Fifteen boys and 16 girls are taking part in the event with Suhana Saini from Haryana and Ankur Bhattacharjee from West Bengal being favourites to win the singles titles.
