Asian Games issues mount at opening

COMPLAINTS ABOUND: Long delays, unsuitable accommodation and transport issues have overshadowed the lead-up to the Games, which are to open today

The Asian Games in Japan on Friday faced more accusations of poor organization with a world champion gymnast “totally exhausted,” the public drafted in to rescue stranded athletes and South Korea lodging a complaint about a Japanese warlord.

The continent’s premier sporting spectacle opens in Nagoya and Aichi prefecture today, but the build-up has been soured by several issues.

That includes a shortage of rooms for the more than 17,000 athletes and officials — a bigger number than the Olympics.

The Taiwanese women’s basketball team celebrate after defeating Mongolia 76-67 in their opening game at Aichi International Arena yesterday.

Photo: Reuters

Some teams have also criticized the quality of the accommodation, including beds that are too short.

To save money there is no athletes’ village, organizers instead putting competitors in hotels, temporary cabins and on a cruise ship.

Organizers say that the accommodation is safe, cost-effective and comfortable.

Chinese gymnast Zhang Boheng, who won two silver medals at the Paris Olympics and has two world championship titles to his name, said he and some of his teammates were left waiting for six hours after landing on Wednesday.

“I’m totally exhausted,” he said in a video published on Thursday and shared widely on Chinese social media.

“I didn’t expect that after breakfast at 7:00am the next time I could eat would be close to 7:00pm,” the 26-year-old said.

He said the wait was caused by registration and paperwork, before heading to the cruise ship where 4,000 Games participants are to be housed in Nagoya’s port area.

However, when they arrived at the ship, he said heavy rain prevented them from boarding.

“A whole day was basically wasted like this,” added Zhang.

“In the end we really couldn’t take it any more so we decided to book rooms at a hotel to rest.”

The video has since been taken down, but Chinese state media said that other Chinese athletes also faced travel delays upon arrival.

Beijing’s consulate in Nagoya contacted Chinese citizens in the area to give the badminton team lifts after issues with a shuttle bus and a shortage of public transport tickets, Xinhua reported.

Chinese social media users applauded athletes, including table tennis star Sun Yingsha, for stretching and exercising at the airport.

The hashtag “Asian Games absurd” has since been viewed more than 94 million times on Weibo.

India’s team had similar delays at the airport.

“There was an issue in getting accreditation for athletes at the airport during immigration. There were long queues with a lot of other nations there,” India’s chef de mission and Indian Olympic Association treasurer Sahdev Yadav said.

“But these things happen and we have got everything sorted,” he said, adding that “these are all teething problems and our focus is now on performance.”

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that some of the country’s athletes waited at the airport for more than five hours on Thursday.

“We are aware of the situation including reports that athletes have had to wait for hours and we are doing our best to handle it,” a Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) official said.

Also yesterday, the KSOC said it had filed a complaint with Games organizers for featuring a Japanese warlord at a welcoming ceremony.

The event on Tuesday included a person dressed as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who led Japan’s invasions of Korea in 1592 to 1598, and the ceremony prompted a backlash in South Korea. Historical issues are sensitive between South Korea and Japan, with Hideyoshi’s invasion a significant episode in Korean history and Korea under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

There was no immediate response from the Olympic Council of Asia or the local organizing committee.