New Delhi: The Asian Games in Japan’s Aichi-Nagoya will be a unique experience for athletes. A conventional Athletes Village has not been built. An Italian cruise ship, Costa Serena, docked at the Port of Nagoya, and temporary villas made of shipping containers will accommodate athletes. Besides, hotels closer to competition venues will be used to put up athletes and delegations for the September 19-October 4 Games.
The Asian Games organising committee has made arrangements to accommodate up to 15,000 athletes and officials, but the number will be higher. The organisers held a meeting with national Olympic committees last week to address the situation.
There are already some concerns raised at the Asian Cricket Council meeting regarding accommodation, and player facilities at the cricket venue. The men’s and women’s T20 tournament will be held at a newly built cricket ground in Nisshin at the Korogi Sports Park, near Nagoya.
Indian Olympic Association CEO Raghuram Iyer said BCCI is looking to send a team to check the facilities and accommodation before the cricketers leave for the Games. “BCCI has made hotel bookings and may send a team to check the accommodation and venue facilities,” Iyer told HT.
The 54 competition venues are scattered across Nagoya city and the Aichi prefecture, which could bring some logistical challenges for teams.
IOA has stepped up efforts to take care of the logistical challenges. The IOA team is looking to ensure that support staff members, who do not get Games accommodation, stay closer to the venue.
“This time it is not going to be a typical Asian Games village where all the athletes are in one place and they will be travelling around. Let’s say 50% to 60% of the athletes will be in the Athlete Plaza, which is the Games Village, where some of them will also be staying in (converted) containers. There will be three people in a container. A lot of sports are played at nearby venues or around the accommodation areas,” former Indian table tennis stalwart, Sharath Kamal, the deputy Chef de Mission, told HT.
“Distances are a little bit more because it’s spread across the whole region. So, for sports like hockey, badminton, shooting, cricket, and some other sports also, they are put up in official hotels. So, the entire hotel will be basically transformed into a small mini village.
“For extra support staff or coaches, we’ve requested if we can get it in the same official hotel. We are also looking at other options nearby. I think logistics is going to be the toughest one because it is decentralised system.”
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, India had set up a recovery centre for athletes at the Games Village. Physios and doctors were available round the clock, and athletes could also use ice baths and other facilities.
“Those things we might not be able to do. But we are trying to find out how we can organise such services for every sport in this decentralised system,” Sharat said.
The IOA has sought additional storage spaces for team sports as rooms in Japan are small. “For sports with larger teams like hockey, cricket, whenever there are huge kitbags and equipment is very big, request has been made for additional storage space.”
