Where is the Village? P T Usha questions Asian Games accommodation model

People walk past the Costa Serena cruise ship, housing athletes for the Asian Games, at Nagoya Port, Japan. (PTI Photo)

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president P T Usha on Tuesday questioned the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games organisers' decision to do away with a conventional Athletes Village, saying she and several other members of the event's coordination committee had objected to the plan.Usha, one of India's most successful Asian Games athletes, said an Athletes Village is about more than accommodation. She said it brings athletes from different countries together and creates the atmosphere that is associated with a multi-sport event.

Athletes at the Aichi-Nagoya Games are being housed at different locations, with a cruise ship serving as the principal accommodation facility instead of a single purpose-built Village.

The Games organisers have cited cost and sustainability as the main reasons for the arrangement, which has divided opinions."In fact, everybody objected. Most of the countries objected, actually...even I did," Usha said when asked about the decision not to build a traditional Games Village."I say that because I have travelled from 1982 until now and seen most of the villages. It is totally different from this, with the ship and everything.

I think even the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) did not want this, but somewhere or the other, they had to accept it," she added, as quoted by news gncy PTI.Asian Games full coverage | Schedule | Medal tallyUsha, who was part of the coordination committee, said the Village system had been defended because of the interaction it allows between athletes."I was a coordination committee member and most of the coordination team objected. We wanted the Village system because it is always good," she said."Everybody can come together, see each other and mix and mingle. That is what makes a Village so good."While saying that the accommodation itself was adequate, Usha said the lack of a centralised Village could lead to logistical and coordination challenges.She also pointed to the distance between venues as another issue with the way the Games have been organised.Having competed at multiple Asian Games, Olympics and Commonwealth Games, Usha said the venues at earlier editions were closer together, making it easier to watch different sports."The problem, for me, is that in our time, although we did not have many facilities, the venues were very close. If you wanted to go from one venue to another, it was very easy," she said."Here, if I have to go to shooting and then to cricket, I have to take another route. So I can only go to one venue if I want to see many Games."

Usha acknowledged that the dispersed model could help different areas benefit from sporting infrastructure, but said it also made the venues less accessible."Maybe they (organisers) say that every place will have infrastructure and all, but this is the big difference I have felt," she said.Usha also rejected the suggestion that the arrangement in Japan could mark the end of the traditional Games Village."I don't think the Village culture will change because nobody, when we were in the committee, liked this idea," she said.