A seventeen-member Indian table tennis contingent had been supposed to fly to Melbourne on Sunday.
The team included star players from India such as Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal, the Commonwealth Games gold medalists.
However, Manika Batra tweeted on Sunday night that the plane left without seven of them.
"Our contingent of total 17 players & officials of Indian table tennis team including CWG medalist myself, Sharath Kamal, Mouma Das, Madhurika, Harmeet, Suthirta, Sathyan were supposed to fly today to Melbourne by AI 0308 to participate in ITTF World Tour Australian Open from tom (sic)."
When the team enquired at the airlines counter, the players were told that only 10 members could fly.
Ms Batra was "shocked at such mismanagement by Air India."
She wrote, "On reaching Air India counter we were told dat flight is overbooked & only 10 members of TT team can fly which left us in a shock. 7 of us are still unable to fly." (sic)
Later, the stranded seven players including Batra, Madhurika Patkar, Mouma Das, Harmeet Desai, head coach Massimo Costantini and support staff members Kishore Dey and Amarjeet Singh were given seats on a Singapore Airlines flight late on Sunday night. That meant that four players would arrive in Melbourne a few hours before their first match.
Ms Batra thanked Neelam Kapur, Director General of the Indian Sports Authority, who got the tickets booked for a different flight. However, Ms Kapur pointed out that the players arrived late.
She said on Twitter, "The team reached late. They were supposed to reach three hours before the flight but reached at 10.30 for the flight at 12.40."
However, in its defence, Air India clarified that the airline was not informed about the travel of the team.
"Contrary to the practice, #AirIndia was not apprised beforehand about the travel of team. The players were provided with hotel stay and offered flight for next day," a tweet by the airlines reads.
Indian Minister for Sports, Rajyavardhan Rathore, who is very active on Twitter, did not say anything despite being tagged by Ms Batra in every tweet.
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