The Indian shooters brought pride to the nation at the Paris Olympics 2024. Manu Bhaker won India’s first medal, claiming a bronze in the 10m air pistol, then added another in the 10m air pistol mixed team event alongside Sarabjot Singh.
Despite all this success, the Indian contingent expressed its dissatisfaction with the food at the Games Village. As per a report in the Tribune, it is said that the menu at the Paris Olympics does not quite cater to the requirements of the shooting team, especially vegetarians, who get only dal and rice.
On the lookout for a place that would serve them the right meals, the Indian team took the help of the internet to cater to their diet requirements better and finally landed on Taj Mahal, a eatery owned by a Pakistani national named Atif Noman. Members of the trap team — Prithviraj Tondaiman, Shreyasi Singh, and Rajeshwari Kumari — are visiting the place quite regularly along with some members from the rifle team. “The restaurant owner has become a friend,” says Prithviraj, listing out what the team prefers to order, in an interaction with The Tribune.
“I only eat vegetarian food on Saturdays and they don’t serve that in the Village. They have fish or eggs in their vegan spreads. Everything is so bland so we found this restaurant and it serves good food,” trap shooter Prithviraj told The Tribune from Chateauroux.
“Fair to the organisers, they don’t have this concept of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. So we found this place and everybody is coming to this place. The other day, high performance director Dr. Pierre Beauchamp was there along with a few shooters. Palak daal, chicken and fish biryani are what the team mostly orders. He has become a friend and sometimes we order before getting there,” he added.
He, however, is more than willing to accord a warm welcome to the Indian shooters at his restaurant. “They have been coming here for a few days now. It feels good, Indians hai, zabaan apni hai, gup shup bhi ho jati hai isi bahane,” says Noman.
