Days after Malaysian Soong Joo Ven posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) of muddy brown water sipping from a basin faucet at his hotel in Guwahati, where he arrived for the Masters Super 100 badminton tournament, former world number 1 Nozomi Okuhara of Japan described her harrowing experience on her arrival in India for the Odisha Open badminton Super 100.
Okuhara, a former world champion and Olympic medallist, posted her nightmarish experiences on fansnet.jp, in which she claimed that she was fleeced by a private cabbie for a price that according to her exceeded 10 times the usual rate. Not only that, she further claimed that she was made to wait for more than four hours to check into a Cuttack hotel.
The 28-year-old Okuhara, who claimed the Syed Modi International Super 300 title in Lucknow and skipped the Guwahati event the following week, had arrived in New Delhi via Hong Kong on Sunday night. It was then her ordeal started.
The nightmarish incidents started at the airport itself when a stranger put her luggage on a trolley before she was duped by a notorious private taxi driver as she ended up paying 10 times more than what an Uber would have cost her to reach a nearby hotel for an overnight stay.
“The full story of harsh travel in India. I was prepared for it, but due to a series of problems, it was a physically and mentally demanding journey. I think I can survive somehow with the help of (PV) Sindhu and (HS) Prannoy! Well, it was the worst itinerary ever,” the post read.
“I have bad memories at Indian airports in the past. When I got out of the airport, a stranger started putting my luggage onto the cart without permission. I got scared and stopped, but he said something along the lines of ‘I’ll take it to the entrance.’ Feeling uneasy, I continued to the entrance,” read the post (translated from Japanese).
In response, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra termed the incident as “unfortunate” and assured that such things will not be repeated.
“It is unfortunate, and the moment I came to know about it, I ensured that she received all possible help. She is our guest, and we’ll ensure that such things aren’t repeated in the future,” Mishra said.
Explaining further, Mishra said, “I understand what Okuhara must have been through but the fact is that we didn’t receive any email regarding accommodation or transportation from her end. It is a technical issue and a matter of miscommunication.”
On reaching Cuttack the next day, she was in for more agony as there were no arrangements to ferry her to the hotel. “Although we had requested to arrange transportation from the airport to the hotel, there has been no contact from the Indian side,” she wrote.
Upon reaching the hotel she claimed that she was made to wait in the lobby for four hours as no rooms were available before she contacted India’s two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who volunteered to help her find another hotel. By that time, the Japanese federation managed to establish contact with the BAI and sorted the matter by accommodating Okuhara and her coach in another hotel.
“Even though I was occupying the sofa in the lobby for four hours at that first hotel, I was really helped by the kindness of the hotel staff who even gave me water at the end without saying a word,” she wrote.
There was more in store for Okuhara, who had booked the practice courts for 8 am on the next morning, but with no shuttle bus available for her time slot, it was at the insistence of Sindhu and HS Prannoy, that the hotel eventually sorted out the matter by allotting her a cab for the remainder of the week.
“However, I was told that the first shuttle bus would arrive at 9 o’clock, so I asked for one at 7 o’clock, but there was no reply.”
“I’m relieved that I’ve managed to get to the point where I can play, and I’m planning to rest my tiredness a little bit today and tomorrow. India has a wide range, from random people to kind people, so even if you don’t want to doubt someone, you may end up doubting them, or you may feel like you’re being rude and a not-so-nice person. Even in such a situation, I am truly grateful to the manager and JTB who supported me until the end, the hotel staff and tournament staff who were kind to me, and Prannoy who contacted Sindhu this morning and confirmed the hotel transport,” the post read.