South Korea team condemn Asian Games organisers over logistical ‘shortcomings’

NAGOYA, Japan – South Korea’s Chef de Mission Lee Sang-hyun criticised Asian Games organisers on Sept 22 for logistical failures that had inconvenienced athletes and said concrete measures must be taken to ensure the problems are not repeated.

Lee told Reuters his delegation had requested a meeting with senior Games officials and wanted a formal apology “at a higher level” after South Korean athletes were affected by transport and accommodation issues at the event in Japan.

“I hope the organising committee and the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) will give these issues greater attention,” he said at Korea House, the team’s hospitality hub in Nagoya.

“More than simply apologising, I believe it is important for them to come up with concrete measures to prevent these problems from happening again and put those measures into practice.

“However, they have not yet provided us with any concrete plans for how they intend to improve things going forward.”

The OCA, which governs the quadrennial Asian Games, did not provide immediate comment.

To reduce costs, local organisers have accommodated athletes and officials in a mix of hotels, temporary wooden containers and a cruise ship rather than build a traditional Games village.

South Korea moved their men’s basketball team out of their container units at Garden Pier and into hotels because they said the beds were too short and after one of the units flooded during heavy rain.

Lee said the containers were “extremely cramped” for the basketball players and that administrative confusion on the cruise ship over bookings and room assignments had inconvenienced athletes.

“So our delegation has been making a great deal of effort to find alternative accommodations outside the official facilities,” he added.

“I believe those efforts have helped create a better environment for our athletes to perform, and in the case of the men’s basketball team, they contributed to the team’s gold-medal victory.”

The men’s team had to cancel a training session hours before their final against Japan because their shuttle bus did not show up.

“It was understandably very unsettling for the players,” Lee said. “And because it was such an important final – and especially because they were playing Japan, the host country – it made the situation all the more significant.”

Cost-cutting

Transport issues have affected other South Korean athletes including the men’s football team, the defending Asian Games champions, and Lee put the problems down to cost-cutting.

“In placing greater emphasis on these priorities, I think the Aichi-Nagoya Games have experienced some shortcomings in terms of administration,” he said.

The South Korean men’s hockey team were also upset when the North Korea’s national anthem was played instead of their own before their 5-0 win over Bangladesh.

Lee believed the incident had a “significant negative impact” on the players and confirmed Games officials had visited the team to apologise.

Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Deputy Secretary-General Takaaki Omi told reporters on Sept 22 the anthem mix-up was a serious mistake but said accommodation and transport arrangements had generally been functioning properly.

The bus that failed to turn up for the basketball team was a case of human error, he added.

“While I would like to apologise to the athletes and team officials for the areas where we have been unable to respond as flexibly as we should have, we will proceed by prioritising the competitions above all else going forward,” he said. REUTERS