Arya News - The Asian Games’ organising committee formally apologised to South Korea, saying an on-site staff member selected the wrong audio file.
TOKYO – Complaints have been mounting from participating nations over the management of the 2026 Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya, sparked by a series of blunders including national anthem mix-ups and unassigned shuttle buses.
Overseas media have sharply scrutinized the operational mishaps.
In a men’s field hockey match involving South Korea on Friday, North Korea’s national anthem was played by mistake. Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Ryu Seung-min vented his anger in a statement on Saturday, saying, “Playing the wrong national anthem … is something that should never happen at an international multisport competition.”
The Asian Games’ organizing committee formally apologized to South Korea, saying an on-site staff member selected the wrong audio file.
The Games have been plagued by a series of operational troubles. A shuttle bus failed to arrive on Sunday, the day of the men’s basketball final, and the South Korean team was forced to call off its morning practice as a result, according to the committee and other sources.
Criticism has also mounted over another announcement error at Sunday’s medal ceremony for the men’s modern pentathlon team event. The gold medal-winning South Korean team was initially introduced in English as “the Republic of China” before the announcer quickly corrected it to “Korea.”
South Korean all-news channel YTN criticized the organizers, saying that their management of the Games lacked maturity.
Major Indian newspaper The Times of India reported that Indian athletes were unable to secure the accommodations designated by the organizers. China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said that a bus scheduling mishap left Chinese athletes stranded at the airport for hours.
“We have caused great inconvenience to some participants,” Takaaki Oomi, deputy director general of the organizing committee, said on Tuesday.
However, Oomi also said that requests for shuttle buses were often made past the reservation deadline, making it impossible to arrange buses in some cases. In addition, he said some accommodations took time to arrange because there were errors in previously submitted accommodation lists and the committee had to handle additional requests.
“We are properly implementing the transportation and lodging plans that were prepared in advance,” Oomi said.
Regarding complaints over meals that have been raised by some participants, he countered that they were provided by the respective sports federations, not by the organizing committee.