ASIAN GAMES: Teams slam Games organizers over ‘chaos’

Several teams yesterday rounded on the organization of the Asian Games in Japan, with Thailand likening it to a “chaotic” game of “musical chairs” and South Korea saying “they deserve a failing grade.”

The biggest issue at the Aichi-Nagoya Games has been a shortage of rooms for the 17,000 participants, while some athletes have complained of cramped accommodation.

That was compounded by delays at airports and hours-long waits to board a cruise ship acting as a floating hotel. Erratic transportation services have seen competitors’ buses to training and venues turning up late or, in some cases, not at all.

No traditional athletes’ village has been built as a cost-cutting measure. Teams have instead been staying in temporary container-style huts, hotels and the Costa Serena cruise ship moored in Nagoya Port.

“It remains a problem from the beginning until now,” said Chalitrat Chandrubeksa, deputy secretary general of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand.

“The number of [rooms available on] cruise ships and hotels does not match our actual number of athletes. On the peak day, we required 201 beds on the cruise ship, but they provided only 170,” , Chalitrat said.

“When athletes checked in and found their names missing from the list, they had to be placed somewhere else and when the new athletes arrived, the previous ones had to move out and look for other hotels,” he said.

“It’s like musical chairs,” he added.

Frustrated athletes have made their feelings known online, with complaints also about some of the food.

“We are solving the problem by finding replacement accommodations ourselves,” Chalitrat said.

The shortages meant the Thailand team had to put some staff far away from the Games epicenter in the city of Nagoya.

“Our medical team has to stay about one hour 30 minutes from Nagoya,” Chalitrat said. “We had to rent additional vehicles from Tokyo so they could travel to look after the athletes. “It has been chaotic.”

South Korea said that the problems were “affecting athletes’ performances,” Yonhap news agency reported.

“If I were to give them a grade, it would be an F,” South Korean Sport and Olympic Committee president Ryu Seung-min said.

Asian Games organizing committee spokesman Hiroshi Koshizuka told reporters that there had beem issues with transport, but added that “there had been no significant impact on the Games and no event has been delayed.”

“We have set up a system to respond to complaints and we will address them in a sincere manner going forward.”

However, the the complaints keep coming.

Taiwan’s Olympic committee spokesman Steven Chen said that experience prepared them for the worst.

They booked 100 extra rooms at hotels in case there was a shortage of beds.

“We were informed at the last minute before departure that there weren’t enough beds. That was a major blow to every country,” he said.

Chen said that the “biggest headache” was with transport, with schedules frequently changing at the last minute.

“When our team had an evening flight, they suddenly informed us that the afternoon bus to the airport was changed to pick us up in the morning, which caused us a lot of trouble,” he said.