In a statement, an Air India spokesperson said, "This was a very unfortunate incident, we apologise to the players and we are arranging next available flights. "Yesterday, table tennis player Manika Batra took to Twitter stating that the Indian contingent, comprising 17 players and officials of Indian table tennis team were denied boarding on the Melbourne-bound flight due to overbooking. Batra had also tagged Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office in her tweet.

"Our contingent of total 17 players and officials of Indian table tennis team including CWG medalist myself, Sharath Kamal, Mouma Das, Madhurika, Harmeet, Suthirta, Sathyan were supposed to fly today to Melbourne by AI 0308 to participate in ITTF World Tour Australian Open from tom," the player tweeted.