With the Asian Games set to open this week in Nagoya, Japan, a serious accommodation crisis has erupted. South Korean officials have described the conditions as the “worst ever” and warned of a “serious shortage” of rooms. The games officially open on Saturday, but football and basketball matches are already under way.

Jung Jae-yong, vice president of the Korea Basketball Association (KBA), expressed his displeasure with the shipping container-style huts where the men’s basketball team is staying. “Based on my experience, this is the worst it has ever been,” he said. “Athletes who are over two metres tall cannot even stretch their legs out on the beds. It’s unreasonable.” Byeon Jun-hyeong, a member of the basketball team, posted a video on social media showing a leaking sink and a soaked floor in his hut. “Please help us,” he wrote.

Organisers, aiming to cut costs, have no dedicated athletes’ village, relying instead on a cruise ship, temporary wooden cabins and hotels. These huts will house 2,000 athletes and officials over the more than two weeks of the games. Indian sports officials built replicas of the cabins to help their athletes get used to the accommodation.

Last week, hundreds of athletes were briefly evacuated from their accommodation as record rainfall lashed Nagoya. More rain has been forecast. More than 17,000 athletes and officials are expected at the games — a bigger number than the Olympics. Organisers initially expected 15,000 and argued last month that they had “neither the manpower nor the budget” to deal with ballooning numbers. The Olympic Council of Asia later said everyone would get a place to stay.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino said all athletes from his country had been given a room. However, “some officials, like coaches, were moved to different hotels and Airbnb”. The Italian cruise ship Costa Serena is due to arrive in Nagoya on Tuesday. Between 4,000 and 5,000 athletes will stay on the vessel. The rest will be accommodated in hotels, including in Tokyo, where swimming, diving and equestrian events will take place. A Korean Sport & Olympic Committee official agreed that problems persist: “At the moment, there is a serious shortage of accommodation not only for the entire South Korean delegation to the Asian Games, but for delegations from around the world in the Aichi-Nagoya area.”

Source: www.aljazeera.com