In a shocking revelation, just eight days prior to Asian Games, Indian athletes attending a training camp at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex were fed decayed food cooked in kitchens filled with cockroaches.
According to a report in the Times of India, boxers, cyclists and gymnasts complained of being served unhygienic food at the training camp but their concerns were only met with threats of explusion. While the food was stale, the ingredients were stored casually and the cooking area was also infested with cockroaches. “We had a word with the contractor. Instead of listening to our problems, he threatened us,” an athlete was quoted as saying.
As if serving stale food was not bad enough, even some of the basic facilities – the water cooler in the dining area for example – were not functional. The report further says that when the stadium administrator was queried about the conditions and the infestation of cockroaches, he retorted with anger. “Where are the cockroaches in the food?” Kapil Kaul asked. “You can find cockroaches in any house. It is very difficult to run a national camp. In fact, rats are a bigger problem.”
Kaul also said that insecticides were not used as nutritionists had advised them to not give athletes “any harmful stuff.”
