Saina Nehwal with her father Harvir Singh
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) resolved the accommodation issue of Saina Nehwal's father Harvir Singh on Tuesday, helping him get the accreditation on a short notice ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2018, starting on Wednesday.
Thanking the Indian Olympic body for its support, Saina tweeted: "Thank you so much @ioaindia for the support and help to sort out my father’s accreditation card on such short notice. Hopefully, it will be great for the matches ahead and I am sorry for all the trouble."
"I would like to thank Rajiv Mehta and team IOA for all the support and also Rajyawardhan Rathore Sir for helping me out with this accreditation issue. It’s sorted and I would like to apologise if I have given any trouble to them," Saina Nehwal told ANI.
The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games is slated to begin from Wednesday with the opening ceremony scheduled to start at 15:25 hrs IST. The 12-day event will end on April 15.
Earlier, the Olympic Association had claimed that Saina' father's name was on the list of the extra-officials accredited but the payment for accreditation didn't include a bed at the Commonwealth Games Village.
"Dear @NSaina , Mr. Harvir Singh is an accredited Extra Official! As stated in the CDM Manual of Gold Coast 2018 CWG and repeatedly conveyed to BAI, the payment for accreditation of Extra Official does not include bed in the Games Village," IOA tweeted from its official Twitter account.
Along with the tweet, the IOA also attached a picture of an official document which stated "the ETO service charge for an extra Team Official. does not include a travel grant or bed in the CGV."
Saina took to Twitter to claim that her father, who was confirmed as part of the Indian contingent traveling to Australia for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, was denied entry in the Gold Coast Games Village.
"Surprise to see that when we started from India for Commonwealth Games 2018 my father was confirmed as the team official and I paid the whole amount for that but when we came to the Games Village ... his name was cut from team official category .. and he can't even stay with me," she wrote on Twitter.
The London Olympics bronze medalist tagged the Commonwealth Games Federation to express her concern.
"He can't see my matches and he can't enter the village nor he can meet me in anyway .. what kind of support is this," read another tweet.
