The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games have faced a growing accommodation and transport crisis just days before the official opening of the event, with athletes from India and several other countries reporting long waits, missing registration details, room-allocation errors, food shortages and difficult journeys to training venues.

The 20th Asian Games are being held in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4, 2026. Around 17,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries and regions are expected to attend, a number considerably higher than the approximately 15,000 participants originally planned for by organisers.

Instead of building a traditional athletes' village, organisers have spread participants across hotels, temporary wooden container-style accommodation and the Italian cruise ship Costa Serena, which is docked at Nagoya Port. The unusual arrangement was designed in part to control costs and avoid creating a large permanent facility that could become underused after the Games.

However, as thousands of athletes began arriving in Japan, the accommodation plan came under pressure.

Among those caught up in the confusion was Indian MMA athlete Varun Sanyal, a bronze medallist at the Asian Championships in China in January 2026. Sanyal travelled from London to Nagoya via Mumbai and Singapore. His problems began after he arrived in Japan, where he said he was repeatedly moved between facilities as officials struggled to locate his details and assign him a room.

MMA is making its Asian Games debut as a medal sport at Aichi-Nagoya 2026, with Sanyal representing India in the men's traditional 77kg category. India Today and Mint also reported that Sanyal confirmed the accommodation disruption after reports emerged of Indian athletes being stranded for hours.

Sanyal later described his experience in a seven-minute video posted on social media. The video was subsequently deleted.

"It's been one crazy day, and it's still not over. I thought it was done, but it's not. There's a lot of chaos with regards to the athletes' rooms and assignment of rooms. Had this happened in India, 100% this would be a bigger deal.The media would be running wild with it, and India as a country wouldn't hear the end of it," Sanyal said in the now-deleted video.

Lost in the System

Sanyal said the trouble started soon after he reached Nagoya.

After arriving at the airport, athletes were taken by shuttle to a facility where their credentials and accommodation arrangements were supposed to be processed. Instead, Sanyal said he encountered a large group of athletes waiting for assistance.

“When you get to Nagoya, from the airport they take you on a shuttle... and as soon as you get there, it's total chaos. I go to the counter... and they just cannot find my name anywhere in the system. Like, I'm a total ghost in their system. This took about two hours... I'm not exaggerating, two hours they're like running around. By the time we left that facility, it had been three hours. By the way, my situation wasn't solved,” he added.

Sanyal had an official Asian Games accreditation ID card. The card also serves as a visa, but he said officials were still unable to locate his information in their system.

According to reports, the registration and accommodation problems were linked to difficulties with athlete information and credential activation. Some competitors also faced trouble accessing their designated transportation.

After spending around two hours at the first facility, Sanyal was taken towards the Costa Serena cruise ship, which was being used as one of the principal accommodation centres for the Games. By then, approximately three hours had passed since he arrived, but his accommodation problem remained unresolved.

At the cruise ship, officials again struggled to find his details and asked him to contact India's National Olympic Committee. He was subsequently sent to another facility, adding still more time to an already exhausting journey.

The experience was not limited to Sanyal. A video circulating online showed athletes waiting on floors and against walls while they waited to be taken to their accommodation. Some Indian athletes reportedly waited more than 12 hours, while other reports put the longest waits at more than 14 hours.

Sanyal himself confirmed the situation on X while he was still waiting.

“I can confirm this is true... I'm currently on 7 hours and counting,” Sanyal posted on X.

The timing was particularly difficult for athletes arriving just days before their competitions. They were expected to settle into their accommodation, recover from international travel and begin their final preparations. Instead, some spent hours waiting for basic arrangements to be completed.

No Food During the Wait

The delays created another immediate problem: food.

Sanyal said athletes were given drinking water during the wait, but there was no proper food available at the facilities where they were being held.

"In none of these facilities was there any food. They'd give you water bottles, but there's no food and you can't even go anywhere and buy anything," he said.

For athletes competing in sports where weight management is part of preparation, the absence of food created an additional concern.

"Yes, I know as an MMA fighter or perhaps a wrestler, boxer, you're cutting weight, etc., but you still need to eat. You still need some kind of food."

Sanyal said he encountered athletes from Tajikistan and Sri Lanka at the third facility and found that they were dealing with similar problems.

"Everyone is facing a similar issue. So this has gone, this has become widespread. So I'm like, what the hell is going on?"

Other Indian athletes also described difficulties with food and transport. A report on India's shooting contingent said team members faced delays after arriving in Japan, while another account said athletes had to rely on food they had carried with them during lengthy waits.

Same Room, Three Athletes

Sanyal's accommodation problems did not end when he finally received a room.

Eventually, he was taken to the Costa Serena and given a room. After showering, he went to sleep, apparently believing that the long day was finally over.

Around 30 minutes later, he woke after hearing a commotion.

Two Indian athletes were standing inside the room.

"I just see two Indian athletes standing right above me, looking as confused as I was, and we're just looking at each other like, what's going on here," he said.

The two athletes had also been assigned the same room.

"Turns out in the system, they've assigned me this room. But this room originally belonged to them," Varun said.

The situation left all three athletes uncertain about what would happen next.

"These two poor athletes are now in the same sort of loop that I was in. I don't know what's gonna happen either. They're gonna get kicked out. I may get bumped off again."It's just a mess. It's just a mess."

The incident reflected a wider problem with room allocation. An Indian contingent member told PTI that some rooms designed for two athletes were being occupied by three. The official said the rooms were already small, making the additional occupant an inconvenience, although the athletes were trying to adjust to the situation. Food, the official said, was not an issue for their group.

"In some rooms which are meant for only two athletes, three players are staying. The rooms are already small and one additional athlete makes it even more inconvenient. The athletes want to give their best in such a mega event but they are facing this," the contingent member said on condition of anonymity."But we are not complaining, we are adjusting to the situation. Food-wise, though, there are no issues."

Two members of India's rowing support staff were also understood to have been staying outside the cruise ship after they could not be accommodated there.

Several Indian rowers reportedly waited for more than 12 hours on Wednesday before receiving their rooms.

"We reached the cruise ship registration area around 9am (on Wednesday), then we waited and waited and finally entered our rooms almost at midnight," one Indian athlete said.

India's Chef de Mission Sahdev Yadav acknowledged that there had been problems.

"There has been a bit of mismanagement from them (organisers) but we are sorting out the issue. We are working on that," he told PTI.

Thailand Team Also Caught in Chaos

India was not the only delegation to face difficulties.

Athletes and officials from Vietnam, China, South Korea and Thailand also encountered problems as delegations arrived in Nagoya. Reports from the period showed that the difficulties extended across several national teams, suggesting that the problem was not limited to India's contingent.

Thailand's national Sepak Takraw team experienced an especially unusual arrival on September 16. Their accommodation information was reportedly missing from the system, leaving team members without assigned rooms aboard the Costa Serena.

The athletes waited on the floor of the cruise ship's lobby while officials attempted to resolve the issue. They were eventually placed temporarily in rooms that had been allocated to other members of the Thai delegation while officials worked through the accommodation problem.

The Costa Serena has become one of the central accommodation hubs for the Games. Around 4,000 participants are expected to stay aboard the cruise ship, while other athletes and officials are spread across hotels and temporary accommodation.

The unusual system has replaced the conventional athletes' village normally associated with major multi-sport events.

India Faces a Logistical Challenge

For India's contingent, accommodation problems have been accompanied by transportation difficulties.

Indian athletes are spread across the Costa Serena, container-style accommodation and hotels. With competition and training venues distributed across the wider Aichi region, athletes have sometimes faced lengthy journeys between where they sleep and where they train.

India's deputy chef-de-mission A Sharath Kamal had earlier said athletes were prepared for the unusual accommodation arrangements. The Sports Authority of India had even created container-style rooms at its centres to give athletes an idea of what they would experience in Nagoya.

Reuters reported earlier in September that the Sports Authority of India built two air-conditioned container-style units at its Bengaluru campus to help athletes become familiar with the type of accommodation being used at the Games. The units included bedrooms, bathrooms, a small kitchen and a living area.

But the experience in Nagoya showed that the challenge involved more than simply adjusting to a different type of room.

Athletes arriving for a major international competition need time to rest, recover and establish their training routines. Long waits for accommodation, uncertain room assignments and lengthy journeys to venues added an additional layer of difficulty.

The Indian shooting contingent was among those affected.

One team member told The Indian Express that the hotels were around 50 to 60 kilometres from the shooting range and that the buses were arriving late.

“The hotels are about 50-60 kms away from the range. The bus could accommodate only 50 persons. The first bus came late, and the second bus too was late,” one of the members told The Indian Express. “It took us close to two hours to reach the range. It took less time on return. But such delays can be frustrating for shooters sometimes,” he added.

In another account, the shooting team was expected to reach the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in roughly 75 minutes but ended up taking more than two hours after waiting nearly three hours for transport. The delay meant the team missed its allotted practice slot and had to wait for another team to finish before getting its opportunity.

Indian rowers have also faced long journeys. The distance from the Costa Serena to the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course is around 30 kilometres, with the journey taking more than an hour. Table tennis players have a similar distance to cover for training, while the Indian wushu team travels around 30 minutes by bus to the Aichi Prefecture Martial Arts Hall, more than 10 kilometres from the cruise ship.

The problem of long journeys was not unique to India.

South Korea's football team was reportedly taken to a baseball arena instead of the football venue while preparing to play Qatar. The team reached its intended location around 30 minutes later than planned.

Indian wushu athletes also faced delays while being transferred to the cruise ship. A coach said that the players had to wait before being sent to their accommodation, while coaches and a masseur were kept at the assembly area for more than six hours.

“While the wushu players had to wait for some time before they were sent to the cruise ship, we, coaches and the masseur had to wait for more than six hours at the assembly area,” said a coach.

The coach later described the conditions during the wait.

“We did not have anything to eat except water and snacks from the airport. We got our rooms in the cruise ship post 11pm (local time). We were so tired that we did not realise we were sleeping inside a cruise ship,” the coach added.

Container Rooms Criticised

The absence of a traditional athletes' village has also drawn attention to the temporary wooden accommodation being used at the Games.

Around 200 container-style wooden huts are being used for approximately 2,000 athletes from sports including football, basketball, baseball, softball, jiu-jitsu and kurash.

India's kurash team is expected to stay in the container-style accommodation after arriving around September 24, with its competition scheduled to begin on September 27.

"Kurash team will stay there (container villas). They will reach here around September 24," Deputy Chef de Mission Alaknanda Ashok told PTI.

South Korean officials have criticised the size and design of the accommodation.

Jung Jae-yong, vice-president of the Korea Basketball Association, told AFP that the conditions were the worst he had experienced at a major event.

"Athletes who are over two metres (6ft 7in) tall cannot even stretch their legs out on the beds. It's unreasonable."

Jung also described the accommodation as the "worst it has ever been".

A member of the South Korean basketball team posted a video showing a leaking pipe and a soaked floor inside a room, accompanied by an appeal for help. Another South Korean basketball player, Byeon Jun-Hyeong, also posted footage showing a leaking sink.

The container facilities were designed with a second purpose in mind. They are intended to be reused as disaster evacuation facilities after the Games.

However, the temporary accommodation also faced problems during heavy rainfall. Athletes were briefly evacuated from the containers after record rainfall hit Nagoya the previous week and caused widespread flooding. Water leakage was also reported at some competition venues.

An Indian Olympic Association official raised concerns about luggage space and the size of the accommodation.

“There is no space to store luggage and we are not here for few days but three weeks, so it’s a challenge in the containers. The ones built for acclimatisation back home by Sports Authority of India were much bigger,” rued an IOA official, an Asian Games veteran.

The accommodation manager, Yuta Matsuo, acknowledged that athletes and delegations had raised concerns.

"We are taking concrete steps to improve the environment for the athletes," he said.

Matsuo also said organisers were fully aware of dissatisfaction expressed by delegations. Reuters reported that organisers had established a 24-hour resident centre to respond to accommodation concerns and were encouraging athletes to make use of shared facilities aboard the cruise ship.

Back-up Accommodation

Japanese officials have said they are working to resolve individual accommodation problems.

Japan's deputy chef de mission Hisashi Mizutori acknowledged the difficulties and said alternative arrangements were being considered where room allocations could not be corrected.

“We are currently working to coordinate and negotiate adjustments wherever possible. For cases where that proves too difficult, we are considering using the backup accommodations that Team Japan prepared in advance as alternatives,” he told Japan Times.

Mizutori also addressed the delays surrounding the cruise ship accommodation.

“Since the cruise ship village opened, athletes have been arriving and going through the entry procedures. However, the process took a significant amount of time due to issues with activation of their credentials,” he said.

The problems have not affected every Indian team equally.

India's women's cricket team, for example, reported a relatively smooth experience with its accommodation.

“I think the accommodation is nice over here. I mean, we are pretty okay. I don’t think there are any complaints from our end. Just the check-in and everything was absolutely spotless and we were pretty happy about it,” said coach Amol Majumdar.

The contrast between teams underlined the uneven experience of athletes arriving at different accommodation locations and at different times.

Accommodation Shortage

The organisers' original accommodation plan was based on approximately 15,000 athletes and officials.

That number later increased to more than 17,000 after additional sports were included in the Games programme. Reuters reported that the Games are now expected to involve around 17,000 athletes and officials, compared with the original plan for 15,000.

Organising committee president Hideaki Omura, who is also the governor of Aichi Prefecture, previously acknowledged that the increase had created a major planning challenge.

“We had neither the manpower nor the budget to make the necessary arrangements” for extra participants,” organising committee president Hideaki Omura told reporters.

He had also said:

“The host city agreement specifies a delegation of 15,000 people. We have not set aside a budget for any more than that. There is simply nowhere for them to stay,” Omura, who also serves as the governor of Aichi Prefecture, said.

Earlier, organisers had told additional participants that they would need to make their own arrangements if they were not covered by the original accommodation plan. However, organisers and the Olympic Council of Asia later issued a joint statement saying that all athletes and officials registered before the July deadline had been provided with Games-appropriate accommodation.

"The final preparations are all on track and progressing smoothly ahead of what promises to be the most spectacular Asian Games held for generations," their statement read.

The Olympic Council of Asia has since defended the decision not to construct a traditional athletes' village, saying the approach was intended to control costs and avoid creating a facility that could become underused after the Games.

The Philippines also had to make adjustments. Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino said that while all of the country's athletes had secured beds, some officials and coaches were staying in different hotels and Airbnb properties.

"different hotels and Airbnb".

Indians Face Room Issues

As the number of accommodation complaints grew, Indian athletes from several disciplines reported problems of their own.

Members of the rowing, wushu and table tennis contingents were staying aboard the Costa Serena. Some rooms intended for two athletes were reportedly being used by three people.

Several rowers waited more than 12 hours before receiving their rooms, while two members of the rowing support staff were reportedly accommodated outside the ship.

The problems were not confined to athletes. Reports also described instances in which coaches, team officials and athletes were allocated the same rooms. In some cases, men and women were reportedly assigned shared rooms.

One Indian rower was reportedly required to share a room with a Hong Kong counterpart.

The Japanese contingent also encountered room-sharing problems. Reports said some Japanese athletes were assigned rooms in arrangements involving athletes of different sexes, while others found themselves sharing with coaches or trainers. Japanese officials acknowledged the issue and said efforts were being made to correct the allocations.

The accommodation problems therefore became a broader organisational issue rather than one affecting a single national team.

No Athletes' Village

The Aichi-Nagoya Games are operating without a conventional Athletes' Village.

Instead, around 17,000 athletes and officials are spread across several accommodation sites. These include the Costa Serena at Nagoya Port, temporary wooden container-style huts and hotels across Aichi prefecture. Some competitors taking part in events in Tokyo are also staying there.

Around 4,000 to 5,000 participants are expected to stay aboard the Italian cruise ship, while approximately 2,000 people are being accommodated in the container-style facilities. Others are staying in hotels.

The arrangement was introduced partly as a cost and sustainability measure. The Olympic Council of Asia has argued that a permanent athletes' village would have created a major post-Games facility that could be difficult to use efficiently.

But spreading thousands of athletes across many locations has also created a major transport requirement.

Competitors have sometimes spent hours travelling to training venues, with delays affecting preparation schedules.

The Games involve venues spread across the region, while accommodation sites are often some distance away. That has made transportation a central part of the athletes' daily routine.

Trouble in Japan!

The accommodation difficulties emerged alongside another challenge for Nagoya: torrential rain.

Heavy rainfall battered the city during the week before the Games, leading to evacuations, disruption to train services and changes to some Asian Games events.

The weather added pressure to an already complicated logistical operation.

There was also concern over the possibility of Typhoon Dujuan approaching the Aichi-Nagoya coast. Organisers were preparing emergency procedures, including plans concerning the cruise ship should severe weather affect the area.

Against this backdrop, thousands of athletes continued arriving in Japan.

For many of the approximately 17,000 participants, the first stage of the journey involved waiting for credentials to be validated and transportation to be arranged. Some waited around three hours, while reports said others were stranded for as long as 14 hours.

The uncertainty did not end after athletes left the arrival facilities.

At accommodation centres, athletes faced further questions over room assignments, registration and available space. Even some members of the Japanese contingent had to seek alternative arrangements after room allocations resulted in men and women being assigned shared rooms.

Indian Olympic Association officials also faced accommodation problems and were eventually provided with alternatives.

The Costa Serena, docked at Kinjo Pier, is housing thousands of athletes and has become a major part of the Games' accommodation system.

The temporary container facilities have faced their own criticism.

One IOA official said that there was not enough space for luggage, an especially significant concern because athletes and officials are staying for weeks rather than only a few days.

Food has also been a source of concern for some contingents. While some athletes were able to adjust to the available meals, others complained that portions were inadequate and said they had been forced to eat outside.

Transport remained another problem.

The Indian shooting team, for example, experienced a journey that was considerably longer than expected. After waiting for transport, the athletes eventually reached the shooting venue more than two hours after departure, missing their scheduled practice slot.

The Games themselves, meanwhile, are returning to Japan after a 32-year gap. Nagoya has been decorated with Asian Games posters and event banners, while trains, streets and public spaces display the colours of the competition.

Amid the organisational difficulties, local volunteers have also stepped in to help athletes and visitors navigate the sprawling venues, understand an unfamiliar language and find food.

Indian Athletes Left Stranded

The difficulties became particularly visible through videos and social-media posts showing athletes waiting on floors and around arrival facilities.

A video circulating online showed athletes apparently sleeping on the floor while waiting to be transported to their accommodation. Reports said athletes from Vietnam, China, South Korea and Thailand were also caught up in delays.

Varun Sanyal publicly confirmed the situation after seeing the reports.

“I can confirm this is true. I’m currently on 7 hours and counting.”

For some Indian athletes, the wait lasted considerably longer.

Reports said several members of India's contingent were left waiting for more than 14 hours before their rooms were sorted.

The problems also affected the Indian athletics contingent. Reports said athletes faced difficulties with breakfast after arriving at their hotel and also experienced delays in transportation to training.

Members of the wushu contingent reportedly found that their names were missing from accommodation lists, while other athletes faced accreditation-related problems.

The combination of missing information, delayed transportation and uncertain accommodation created an unsettled beginning for athletes who had travelled to Japan specifically to compete at one of Asia's largest sporting events.

Japan's Asian Games Mess

By the eve of the official opening, the accommodation problems had become one of the central stories surrounding the Aichi-Nagoya Games.

Sanyal's experience captured several of the issues at once: a valid accreditation card that officials could not match to a room, hours spent moving between facilities, a lack of food during the wait and, eventually, a room that had also been assigned to two other athletes.

He later criticised the situation by comparing it with how such an incident might have been treated if it had occurred in India.

"If this happened in India, oh my God, the media would be going crazy, not just in India, but globally. We would've been the butt of the joke," Varun said.

He also described the room-allocation problem more broadly.

"There's a lot of chaos with regards to the athletes' rooms and assignment of rooms. So of course, myself included, I was sort of caught up in all of this, and it's still not solved," he said.

His description of the initial registration process was equally direct.

"As soon as you get there, it's like total chaos because you just see a bunch of athletes all over the place. As you've seen, there are people lying around, sleeping, just waiting," he said.

And when he reached the registration counter:

"So I go to the counter, I go to register, get my room number or my accommodation details, and they just cannot find my name anywhere in the system. Like, I'm a total ghost in the system," he said.

The episode has since become part of a wider discussion about the decision to replace a single athletes' village with a network of hotels, temporary facilities and a cruise ship.

Organisers have said that the increase in participant numbers and the addition of sports contributed to the accommodation pressure. They have also maintained that registered athletes and officials have been provided with Games-appropriate accommodation.

The Olympic Council of Asia has defended the alternative accommodation model on cost and sustainability grounds, while organisers have said they are taking steps to address complaints and improve conditions.

For athletes, however, the immediate concern is more practical: having a room, knowing where to go, getting enough food, reaching training venues on time and being able to rest before competition.

The Asian Games officially open on September 19 and continue until October 4. Preliminary competitions have already begun in some sports.

As thousands of athletes settle into hotels, temporary accommodation and the Costa Serena, organisers now face the task of turning a complicated accommodation experiment into a workable system for the remainder of the Games.

The opening ceremony may mark the formal beginning of the event, but for many athletes arriving in Nagoya, the competition began much earlier, with a very different test: finding their names in the system, finding a bed, finding their way to training and, in some cases, simply finding something to eat.