Boxing federation chief praises CWG facilities

New Delhi: Indian boxing federation's Secretary General PKM Raja said that the facilities at the Commonwealth Games Village were brilliant and that there are only minor hiccups.

Defending Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar's bed collapsed on Saturday after the 10-member Indian team, comprising among others Olympic and world championship bronze medallist Vijender Singh, were kept waiting for nearly four hours at the Olympic Bhavan here for the bus to take them to the Games' Village.

''I have only seen the flats for boxers, we are very happy with the flats the training place. I am not aware about the other flats'' said Raja.

''The arrangements at the village are excellent. In Akhil kumar's case the bed was defective, nothing is wrong with him, the team is doing well'' added Raja.

Earlier, the shoddy state of the Games' Village stood exposed on Saturday when the Indian boxing team checked in at their residential block there only to find defending Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar's bed collapsing.

On reaching the Games' Village, Akhil said it was a rude shock as his bed collapsed when he sat down to take rest after a long journey.

"We reached at the Olympic Bhavan late in the afternoon to collect our accreditation cards. But when I sat down on my bed to take rest it collapse," he said.

"I checked the bed and part of it has no plywood on it.

It was very disappointing after enduring a long journey. The athletes are at least entitled a decent place to rest. Even the toilets are not very clean. I have told coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu about this," said the boxer who will compete in 56kg at the Commonwealth Games.

Apart from Akhil and Vijender (75kg), the team also comprises Asian champion Suranjoy Singh (52kg) and Commonwealth champions Jai Bhagwan (60kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg).

Accompanied by national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu and Cuban coach B I Fernandes, the team comes here after months of training at the Naitonal Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala.

Boxers join the weightlifters and netball players in arriving at the Village, which was severely criticised by international delegates some days ago.

(With inputs from PTI)