Asian Games: Opening ceremony offers respite amid mounting complaints

Accommodation crisis, transport gaffes, and national anthem mix-ups headlined the Games ahead their opening in Japan.

A glitzy opening ceremony offered some respite and a more cheerful welcome for athletes and officials attending the Asian Games in Japan after a string of mishaps had headlined the build-up to the continental sporting event.

Five years after the Tokyo Olympics were held at empty venues due to COVID-19 restrictions, Japan welcomed fans to the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium in Nagoya for a curtain-raiser that was initially subdued before bursting into a festival of colour and sound.

Organisers will hope the ceremony can draw a line under a rocky build-up, laden with complaints from athletes and officials involving accommodation and transport.

Hosts Japan bagged the first gold of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after Takumi Hojo powered to victory in the men’s individual triathlon on Sunday but not before an eventful opening ceremony made the news for the wrong reasons.

Typhoon scares away spectators

Warnings of a typhoon partly explained why Saturday’s opening ceremony took place in front of thousands of empty seats at the 30,000-capacity stadium.

There was a record deluge last week, which flooded parts of Nagoya. Now, a typhoon is approaching eastern Japan, threatening further disruption in the coming days.

Olympic Council of Asia director general Husain Al-Musallam said they had to keep one block empty because of the Games flame, adding that 70 percent of tickets had been sold. However, that contrasted with an announcement at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium that said the ceremony was sold out.

On Friday, Taiwan’s delegation temporarily refused to participate in their welcoming ceremony after sports minister and former Olympic champion Lee Yang was blocked from attending it.

Accommodation crisis

Organisers replaced the traditional games village with a mix of hotel rooms, temporary wooden containers and a cruise ship to house some 17,000 athletes and officials in cost-cutting measures that have gone terribly wrong.

Several national team delegations, including hosts Japan, have found the arrangements below par, complaining of mix-ups and double bookings, while South Korea said the containers at Garden Pier were too cramped for their basketball players.

India’s powerful cricket board took matters into their own hands, arranging for the men’s star-studded cricket team to stay in a separate hotel due to a tight allocation of beds from organisers.

India also leaned on its diaspora in Japan to strengthen their contingency plan, as 2,000 families in Nagoya offered to house the country’s athletes should the accommodation shortage continue.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry threw her weight behind the Games organisers and said she was “really impressed” with the accommodation.

The overarching priority remained ensuring that competitors enjoyed a positive overall experience, the former Olympic swimming champion from Zimbabwe added.

Logistical gaffes

The South Korean men’s basketball team missed a light practice session on Sunday, hours before they were due to take on hosts Japan in the Asian Games final, after their shuttle bus did not show up at 10am, with team officials saying they had received no explanation.

It was a repeat of what the men’s football team faced on Wednesday, when the bus did not show up at the team hotel. A day earlier, the bus took them to a baseball ground instead of the Mizuho Rugby Stadium, causing a 30-minute delay.

North Korea anthem played at South Korea match

South Korea’s woes continued as the men’s hockey team were left bemused when North Korea’s national anthem was played instead of their own ahead of their match against Bangladesh on Friday.

The stadium announcer was quick to apologise for the mistake. The North Korean national anthem is banned in South Korea, along with other symbols of their wartime foes.