The Indian hockey team has complained about the lack of amenities at the Olympic Games Village in Rio de Janeiro, according to PTI. The team management has reportedly complained about the lack of chairs and television sets. Coach Roelant Oltmans documented the complaints in a letter to India's Chef de Mission, Rakesh Gupta.
In his letter, Oltmans wrote, "The apartments of the Rio Olympics are not furnished properly. For athletes who have to perform at top-level during a longer period of the Olympics we need proper chairs and tables in the apartments for six persons. Actually there are only two chairs in each apartment. 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."
Oltmans also wrote about the lack of television sets for his players. "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," he wrote. "I would like to get permission to purchase three TVs to be able to follow the hockey competition in both the staff rooms and at least in one of the male and female apartments," he added.
The Indian hockey squad touched down in Brazil on July 30 after what was a difficult pre-season. They lost twice against Spain during the run-in to the Olympics and had also succumbed to losses against Germany and a surprise defeat to New Zealand. Dutch coach Oltmans has been tight-lipped about the 11-time Olympic medal winners adding to their tally. He stated that the focus was on the side to reach the quarter-finals of the competition. India will start their campaign against Ireland on August 6.
