Accommodation not a challenge, Indians will adapt: Sharath Kamal

Indiarsquos deputy chefdemission for the Asian Games Achanta Sharath Kamal says the unique container room and cruise ship accommodation at the event will not be particularly challenging for Indian athletes despite the mixed reactions that the arrangement has got from participating nationsIndias contingent of 501 athletes and 265 officials will be spread across container style rooms a docked cruise ship and hotels much like the nearly 17000 other participants who will be in AichiNagoya for the Games beginning September 19The container rooms have been criticised as too small by the South Korean contingent and some Asian Cricket Council members have also voiced concerns about the quality of accommodation on offerAsked how the Indian athletes will cope with the unique arrangement which is being described as slightly cramped for an average athletes comfort the table tennis great said he is more concerned about the officials who unlike the athletes did not get the opportunity to acclimatise through makeshift containers set up at Sports Authority of India CentresFor the players by the direction of the Sports Authority of India we have had some containers built in various SAI campuses where the athletes got an experience to stay in containersAnd of course cruise ships we tried to replicate something like that said Sharath who is also the vice chair of the Athletes Commission of the Indian Olympic Association IOAAround 40005000 athletes will be housed in a luxury cruise liner the Costa Serena to be docked at Nagoya Port Around 2000 athletes will stay in converted shipping container units at the Garden Pier in Nagoya BayThe remaining athletes and officials in fact the majority of the total participants will be accommodated at commercial hotels near competition venues across Aichi perfecture and even in Tokyo where a few events like swimming will be heldBut at the same time players know what to expect We have educated them very well And I am pretty sure they will get accustomed quite quickly he said The important thing is the performance I am sure they will be able to perform wellAt least one TT medalTalking about the Games and the Indian prospects in TT Sharath said he is expecting at least one medal from the countrys paddlers Sharath who retired from the sport in 2025 after playing in five Olympics and four Asian Games has pinned his hopes on the mens doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah and the mixed doubles duo of Manush Shah and Diya ChitaleA 10member team five male and five female is representing India in table tennis in the Games My expectation is to win at least one medal if not two Last time we got one medal in womens double And prior to that we got two bronze medals in 2018 Sharath saidThe mens doubles pair of Manush and Manav they are doing extremely well They were world number two at one point in time They are in the top four now And they have a good chance of winning a medal said the 44yearoldSo these two events we have a good chance to win medals And of course team championships are always quite an open event Table tennis competitions will be held between September 20 and 28 In the last edition of the Asian Games in China the womens doubles pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee had won a bronze medal Sutirtha is also in the current teamIn the 2018 edition India won two bronze medals in the mens team event and mixed doubles Sharath was part of the mens team and won another bronze with Manika Batra in the mixed doubles Batra is not in the team for the Asian Games in JapanThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever