The Rio Olympics is set to start from Aug. 5 and complaints regarding the Olympic village do not seem to end. Few days ago, there were reports of leaked pipes and blocked toilets, which led Australian athletes not moving into the Village. Now India hockey coach Roelant Oltmans is disappointed with the players' apartments not furnished well, and has also asked for permission to purchase three television sets so that the hockey matches can be followed closely from the village.
The coach has complained about the disappointing standards in the rooms provided to both the India men's and women's hockey players. As a result of which, Oltmans penned down a letter to the Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent Rakesh Gupta, stating the lack of arrangements in the rooms.
"The apartments of the Rio Olympics are not furnished properly," Oltmans wrote in the letter.
"For men and women, we are using nine apartments so there is a lack of 28 proper chairs, and for seven apartments we need at least one table as well. In the staff apartments we've managed to bring in some tables."
It is not possible for players and coaches to watch their opponents play from the venue, hence they depend on watching their rivals on TV. But that also seems to be a problem in the village, and Oltmans wants to buy TV for his team.
"I've tried to rent more TV's but unfortunately they are sold out in the Village. During the Olympics, we would like to give our players the possibility to watch the matches of our competitors live on TV. This will help the players to prepare themselves for the upcoming matches against these opponents. I would like to get permission to purchase three television sets to be able to follow the hockey competition in both the staff rooms and at least in one of the male and female Apartments," Oltmans wrote in another letter.
Such kind of news does not auger well for the organisers, who have been bagging headlines for all the wrong reasons. Since last year, spread of the Zika virus created a huge problem and also led to the withdrawal of some major athletes, and now those who have come to Rio are also not happy with the facilities in the Village.
The quadrennial event is four days away and there is a serious need to resolve all these problems raised by various teams.
