Cricketers at this month's Asian Games in Japan will have better accommodation than athletes from many other sports, the head of Japanese cricket has said amid growing concerns about a lack of five-star hotels for players. Naoki Alex Miyaji, CEO of the Japan Cricket Association, made the remarks on Wednesday, emphasizing that cricket teams are being offered hotel rooms.

A Sri Lankan official said this week that some of Asia's top teams had raised doubts over facilities and accommodation at the games, taking place in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area from September 19. Cricket is a minor sport in Japan, and its fixtures will be played at a new purpose-built ground, with reports of tents serving as dressing rooms and distant toilet facilities.

There is no dedicated athletes' village at the games, with organizers instead relying on cabins in a cruise ship, rooms in temporary wooden containers, and hotels. Organizers said last week that accommodation was already stretched to the limit after the number of Asian Games athletes ballooned to 17,000, compared to about 11,000 at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The cricket tournament is being run by the Asian Games organizing committee in collaboration with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Miyaji said the two bodies had been discussing accommodation options "for a long time." He noted that "many other sports are being accommodated in much more limited facilities, such as a cruise ship or container hotels."

Matches will be played at Korogi Sports Park, a converted baseball field that is a 40-minute train ride from central Nagoya. Media reports in India said the country's cricket board was unhappy with arrangements and might send a second-string squad after originally naming 15 players led by Shreyas Iyer and including 15-year-old rising star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Miyaji acknowledged that organizers "only had 17 months to prepare and had to start from scratch" for cricket at the games. He insisted that despite temporary facilities, they would provide "as comfortable a space as possible for the players and officials." He also praised the pitch, prepared by the curator of the 35,000-capacity Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Sri Lanka, predicting it would be "the best seen in cricket's inclusion in the Asian Games."

Source: www.aljazeera.com