Asiad chief defends ‘functional’ rooms
ORGANIZING committee president Hideaki Omura asserts there’s nothing wrong in the housing facilities being used by delegates in the 20th Asian Games.
Photograph courtesy of YUICHI YAMAZAKI/agence france-presse
ORGANIZING committee president Hideaki Omura asserts there’s nothing wrong in the housing facilities being used by delegates in the 20th Asian Games.
Photograph courtesy of YUICHI YAMAZAKI/agence france-presse
NAGOYA, Japan (AFP) — Accommodation for Asian Games athletes in Japan is “functional” and efforts are being made to deal with numerous complaints from disgruntled teams, a chief organizer told AFP.
More than 17,000 competitors and officials are expected at the continent’s biggest sporting spectacular, which opens on Saturday in Nagoya.
In a bid to cut costs, organizers are housing athletes and officials in temporary accommodation ranging from a cruise liner and wooden containers to hotel rooms.
The plan has run into immediate problems, with South Korean officials branding the container huts the “worst ever” and saying the beds are too short.
An official from another team told AFP that he entered the facility, took one look at the arrangement and booked a hotel room instead.
Several countries have also complained about a shortage of accommodation.
Speaking ahead of the opening ceremony, organizing committee president Hideaki Omura said efforts are being made to ensure athletes are comfortable.
“If there are different opinions then we will respond to them appropriately,” said Omura, who also serves as governor of Aichi prefecture.
“At this point, while we are responding to individual opinions, we have been improving everything as issues arise and we will continue to respond that way.”
Byeon Jun-hyeong, a player with South Korea’s men’s basketball team, posted a video on social media showing a leaking sink and soaked floor in his hut accommodation.
He posted the caption, “Please help us.”
Hundreds of athletes were briefly evacuated from their accommodation last week as record rainfall lashed Nagoya.
About 2,000 people are supposed to stay in the huts.
Omura said plans for the huts, which were built this year, had been given a favorable assessment by a committee of former athletes, including Olympians.
“We explained everything to them and had them take a look around, and they said it looked functional and good,” he said.
About 4,000 athletes and officials will also stay on the Italian cruise ship Costa Serena, which arrived in Nagoya on Tuesday.
Cruise ships have been used previously as accommodation at international sports events but never on this scale.
