Indian wrestlers, including the Beijing Games bronze medalist Sushil Kumar, are expected to match skills of excellent rivals at the upcoming London Olympics. However, reports have emerged that the food served at Olympic training camp near Delhi is sub-standard.

Former swimmer Khajan Singh, a member of the sports ministry's monitoring panel, visited the camp at Sonepat, 45 kilometers (30 miles) north of New Delhi, where the wrestlers are training ahead of next month's London Games. "I was shocked to see rotten fruits used to make juice and unhygienic conditions in the kitchen," Singh, a silver-medalist at the 1986 Asian Games, told a national daily in India. "Olympics-bound players are not getting adequate food despite the fact that the sports ministry has recommended that all these athletes should be provided diet for R675 daily (R425 for food and R250 for supplement)," Singh said going on to add, "There is no dietitian or medical expert to oversee the quality of food being served."

Among the wrestlers training at the camp Singh visited was Beijing Olympics bronze medal winner Sushil Kumar, who is a rare medal prospect for the London Olympics, which begins on July 27. What is surprising though is the fact that none of the wrestlers including Sushil Kumar ever complained about the food. Singh blamed the system, pointing out that the moment a player spoke out, he or she will be shown the door. In his report to the Sports Authority of India, Singh noted that the day he visited Sonepat, nothing that was on the menu was served.

With 1.2 billion people and a rapidly growing economy, India should be an emerging Olympic powerhouse but it achieved a meager haul of just one gold and two bronzes at Beijing in 2008. The poor conditions belie the fact that the Sonepat center is a wrestling hub and major camps are held there regularly.

Singh has recommended that for Sonepat to hold Olympic or national camps in future, the mess contractor must be immediately sacked. However, nothing has changed as the final Olympic camp for the four male wrestlers began on May 28 and will continue until June 15.