Indian athletes express mixed reviews of Village

Tokyo, July 19: The Indian contingent was largely satisfied with the food and facilities provided at the Olympic Games Village, but a request has gone out to the Indian Embassy for 100 plus electric kettles to meet the athletes' requirement of warm water.

The kettles have not been kept in rooms at the Village. Also, the rooms will be cleaned every third day to minimise their contact with the housekeeping staff as organisers face a huge task of staging the Games in Covid-19 times.

A major chunk of the Indian contingent arrived here on Sunday and has spent close to two days at the Village.

“The request for the kettle has come from the athletes. They need to drink warm water in the morning. We have requested the Indian Embassy here and it should be arranged soon,” India’s Deputy Chef de Mission Prem Verma said on Monday.

A team official informed that accommodation is spick and span but cleaning has not been done since they checked in on Sunday.

The athletes are being served food from all around the world including India.

Indian paddler G. Sathiyan said that he has had no issues with the food so far but another team official said the ‘desi food’ can be a lot better.

“It has been smooth for us. No complaints at all. I had daal and parotta yesterday and it was fine,” Sathiyan said.

However, the team official added: “I would advise the athletes to go for continental or Japanese food. The Indian food at best is average and at times undercooked.”

Majority of the athletes are being handed testing kits daily so that they can hand over their swab samples to the IOA officials before leaving for training.