Olympics: 4 Indian sailors start training in Japan

Mumbai, July 15 (IANS) Indian sailors, the first representatives from the country to reach Tokyo, set up their boats for sail and had their first training session at the Enoshima Yacht Harbor, the venue for Olympic Games sailing competition, on Thursday.Four sailors -- Nethra Kumanan and Vishnu Saravanan (laser class), KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar (49er class) -- reached Tokyo from their training bases in Europe and got into training on Thursday.Their boats had reached the Japanese capital a few days ago and the sailors had to set them up after collecting them from the authorities concerned.While the sailors went about their training session, Indian officials, led by Chef de Mission B.P. Baishya, and contingent doctor Dr. Arun Basil, are preparing to receive the first group of athletes reaching there from India. The first batch of 90 Indian athletes and officials will leave India on July 17 and reach Japan the next day morning.Indian athletes are among those from 14 countries that have to undergo three days of extra rigorous quarantine as per new regulations imposed by local health authorities.The Indian officials checked into the Games Village on Wednesday and reported to the Indian Olympic Association that all the facilities were "very good".IOA president Narinder Batra said he has been informed that the issue of the dining hall during the extra quarantine "also stands resolved". He, however, did not give any details of how it has been resolved.
--IANS bsk/qma