Last Updated:
Rahi Sarnobat has emerged as the latest Indian athlete hit by Nagoya’s accommodation chaos.
India’s Rahi Jeevan Sarnobat, display India national flag during the awards ceremonies for the final round of the 25m pistol women’s shooting event at the 18th Asian Games in Palembang, Indonesia, Wed
Palembang Asian Games gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat was the latest Indian athlete to face accommodation issues in Nagoya, after she couldn’t find a room in the designated hotel on her arrival in Japan, according to a report in NDTV.
As per earlier reports, India’s 35-member shooting contingent faced a major logistical ordeal after arriving in Japan on Wednesday, with the athletes forced to wait for hours before checking in.
The aforementioned publication has accessed the booking reference list, which shows that rooms for the Indian contingent had been pre-booked at a particular hotel.
As per the list provided to the IOA by the organisers, 40 rooms had been booked for the contingent. But when the Indian shooters arrived at the Grand Tiara Hotel, they were told that just seven rooms were available, while the remaining 33 had been allocated at another property, Toyoko Inn.
Although the athletes checked in, the accommodation issue was far from resolved. Five other members of the shooting contingent, including Rahi, arrived later with another batch of shooters.
But when one of the coaches went to the Grand Tiara Hotel to collect the keys to Rahi’s room, he was told that it was no longer available as it had been allocated for dope control.
This was despite the Indian Olympic Association having booked the room and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games organisers’ booking records confirming the reservation.
Meanwhile, Rahi arrived in Nagoya on Friday night and headed to another Toyoko Inn hotel, with several properties bearing the same name in the city. Instead of being informed that she was at the wrong hotel, however, she was handed the keys to a room.
The bizarre situation meant Rahi ended up bagging a room at the ‘wrong’ hotel, while the room booked for her at the ‘right’ property was unavailable.
The team arrived at the airport at 9 pm on Tuesday and cleared customs by 11 pm before heading to the accreditation validation centre, where their credentials were processed within 15 minutes.
But the smooth process came to an abrupt halt as the athletes and coaches were left stranded at the centre without transport from 11:45 pm until 3 am.
Quick Answers
Ask News18Upon arriving in Japan, the Indian shooting contingent discovered their hotel room allocation had drastically shrunk from 40 pre-booked rooms to just seven at the Grand Tiara Hotel, with the rest at Toyoko Inn. Additionally, Rahi Sarnobat’s reserved room became unavailable because it was reassigned for dope control.
Ask News18September 19, 2026, 11:10 IST
Read More
