Japan readies for thousands of athletes

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: From well-known Olympic staples to Asia-centered events such as sepak takraw and kabaddi, the games are about to begin in Nagoya

The Asian Games open in Japan on Saturday with 2028 Olympics places up for grabs, fast-rising talents of world sport in action and thousands of athletes staying on a cruise ship in typhoon season.

More than 17,000 competitors and officials are expected at the continent’s biggest sporting spectacular, which takes place in Nagoya and the wider Aichi Prefecture until October 4.

The number of participants — more than the Olympics — has heavily taxed the organizers, who initially expected 15,000 people and have had to scramble to find accommodation for the rest.

The Italian cruise ship Costa Serena, , pictured in Tokyo on Jan. 23, will house officials and athletes for the Asian Games.

Photo: AP

They choose from the outset to house athletes in temporary accommodation in a bid to cut costs, ranging from a cruise liner and wooden containers to hotel rooms.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 athletes and officials are to stay aboard the Italian cruise ship Costa Serena which usually features 571 cabins. The Costa Serena is the sister ship of the Costa Concordia, which ran aground and sank off Tuscany in 2012, killing 32 people.

Cruise ships have been used as accommodation at international sporting events before, but never at this scale.

Boxer Lin Yu-ting, shown here at the Paris 2024 Olympics, is taking part in this year’s Asian Games in Japan.

Photo: AFP

The unusual accommodation plans have been met with concern by some countries, with India building its own replica container huts to brace athletes for their stay.

On Monday, South Korean sports officials branded the facilities as “the worst” accommodation ever at the Games, adding that the beds were too short for the athletes.

With just days to go, a South Korean Olympic committee official said that there was “a serious shortage of accommodation.”

Reports of tents serving as dressing rooms and distant washroom facilities have also left some of the teams unimpressed.

Organizers have repeated that everyone would have a bed and that they are confident that Japan’s typhoon season in September and October would not dampen the party.

Weather has already disrupted preparations, with record rainfall forcing athletes to evacuate their accommodation briefly last week.

Rainwater leaked into some competition venues, although organizers said there was no serious damage. More rain is forecast this week.

Athletes from 45 countries and territories are competing in more than 40 sports across the two weeks.

Basketball and soccer are already under way, with several more events set to start before Saturday’s glittering opening ceremony.

Olympics staples such as athletics and swimming sit side-by-side with regional favorites such as sepak takraw and kabaddi.

In a bid to attract a new audience there would be eSports, breakdancing and BMX cycling. Padel and MMA would make their Asian Games debuts.

The Games function as qualifiers for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in seven sports including surfing, tennis, archery and squash.

Among those competing would be Philippine tennis sensation Alexandra Eala and a pair of prodigies in 15-year-old Indian cricketer Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and 13-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi.

“I love playing and competing with the Philippine team,” said Eala, who is skipping the China Open to take part.

Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting is competing, two years after she won Paris Olympics gold in the middle of a gender row that saw her eligibility questioned.

Japan looks to their Olympic champions for success, with gymnast Shinnosuke Oka and javelin thrower Haruka Kitaguchi entering the competition.

North Korea is sending more than 100 athletes competing across 14 sports, aiming to “bring joy to Marshal Kim Jong-un.”

China again expects to top the medals table after winning a whopping 201 golds and 383 medals on home soil in Hangzhou at the epidemic-delayed Games in 2023.

They are sending more than 800 athletes, including 36 Olympic champions.

“We would showcase China’s standard and strength on the regional and global stage,” diver Wang Zongyuan said.

Sooryavanshi would be part of an India cricket team looking to make a statement before the sport returns to the Olympics in LA after an absence of 128 years.

India might face bitter rivals Pakistan in the final at Nagoya’s new purpose-built cricket ground.

Even younger than Sooryavanshi is Chinese swimming sensation Yu Zidi, who won a world championships medal aged 12 last year.

Eala, the rising 21-year-old tennis star from the Philippines, is hunting gold, as is Pakistan’s Paris Olympics javelin champion Arshad Nadeem.