describes a logistical nightmare in India, which BAI describes as ‘unfortunate.’
Nozomi Okuhara, a former world champion and Olympic medalist shuttler, recently recounted her terrifying trip experience in India.
Nozomi Okuhara, a former world champion and Olympic medalist shuttler, recently described a terrible travel experience in India in which she was tricked by Delhi’s renowned cab drivers and forced to wait for four hours before being assigned a hotel room in Cuttack, Odisha. Okuhara, 28, took to the social networking platform fansnet.jp to recount her ordeal after being harassed by cab drivers at Delhi airport and not being able to obtain official transportation after arriving in Cuttack on Monday to compete in the Odisha Open.
She had to wait four hours to check in at the hotel and was not supplied with a shuttle bus/car for her 8 a.m. practice session.
Sanjay Mishra, general secretary of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), was humiliated and pledged that “it will not happen in the future.”
In defense of the local organizing committee, the all-powerful BAI secretary general claimed that the ace Japanese shuttler did not submit any e-mail detailing the logistical specifics (local transit and accommodation), which could have secured sufficient preparation prior to her arrival.
“I understand what Okuhara must have gone through, but we didn’t receive any email from her end regarding accommodation or transportation.” It’s a technical problem and a misunderstanding. “We didn’t have any information,” Mishra told news sources.
Mishra described it as a regrettable episode and pledged that nothing similar will happen in the future.
“It’s unfortunate, but as soon as I learned about it, I contacted the organizers and offered all assistance.” She is a great player and our guest, and we will make sure nothing like this happens again.” Okuhara, a former world No. 1, came in New Delhi on Sunday night via Hong Kong after winning the Syed Modi International Super 300 championship in Lucknow and skipping the Guwahati event the following week.
It was then that her ordeal began.
The upsetting sequence of events began when a stranger placed her bags on a cart at the Delhi airport, and she was then tricked by a private taxi driver, who charged her ten times the price of an Uber to reach a nearby hotel for an overnight stay.
