CHENNAI: After India's boxing contingent, luggage of a few Indian judokas and their support staff were found missing after they landed in Glasgow. The ordeal of the team, however, began much before as the British Airways flight they were supposed to board from New Delhi on Tuesday morning got cancelled leaving the athletes and support staff stranded at the airport for almost six hours.
"The coaches had to intervene because if they had taken a flight later in the day, the players would have been late for other formalities. The players had to take their bib numbers on Wednesday. The weigh-in is scheduled on Thursday followed by a draw. The coaches had to plead with the BA officials and that's how they got an earlier flight," a top Judo Federation of India (JFI) official told this daily
Earlier, the Indian team comprised 14 judokas and four support staff but two of the selected players — Arun Kumar (-73kg) and Tulika Maan (+78kg) — were withdrawn from the team a few days before the departure. While Arun was suspended by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for doping violation, silver-medallist from the 2022 Birmingham CWG Tulika got suspended for whereabouts failure. Besides, a few selected judokas were training in Paris ahead of the Games and were scheduled to join the remaining members of the team in Glasgow.
"Primarily, luggage of judokas arriving from Paris had gone missing. Their luggage was also being carried by their team members, who were reaching Glasgow from India," one of the sources said. The judo competition will begin on Friday with Rohit Majgul (-66kg) and Harsh Singh (-60kg) competing in the men's category while Shraddha Chopade (-52kg), Asmita Dey (-48kg) and Yamini Mourya (-57kg) participating in the women's section.
The sources confirmed that the missing luggage comprised training gears and judogis of the players. Judogis are the traditional uniform worn by the players during training and competition. The JFI has requested the Indian Olympic Association to sort the issue as it will affect the training of athletes ahead of the competition. "The IOA has taken cognizance of the issue and assured the team members that they will soon get the missing luggage," said the source.
Meanwhile, sports secretary Hari Ranjan Rao, who was at the Games Village, met the judokas on their arrival. He also met the weightlifting team during his visit to the Village. JFI interim president Mukesh Kumar was also present on the occasion.
Notably, the Indian boxing contingent also faced a similar issue upon reaching Glasgow a few days ago. Several boxers and members of the support staff, who were stationed in Belfast before leaving for Glasgow, found their luggage missing on arrival.
The Indian judokas won three medals (two silver and one bronze) in the previous edition. Tulika and Shushila Devi Likmabam won a silver each while Vijay Kumar Yadav bagged a bronze medal.