The 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya and Aichi, Japan, are marred by a severe accommodation shortage, forcing athletes from 45 countries into substandard hotels, temporary cabins, and a cruise ship. This cost-saving measure has resulted in widespread complaints regarding the quality of facilities, including issues with bed sizes and functional problems. Heavy rainfall and storms further disrupted arrangements, leading to athlete evacuations. While organizers claim to have resolved genuine concerns, national delegations have voiced criticism and made independent arrangements for their athletes, highlighting organizational challenges.

The 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya and Aichi, Japan, are marred by a severe accommodation shortage, forcing athletes from 45 countries into substandard hotels, temporary cabins, and a cruise ship. This cost-saving measure has resulted in widespread complaints regarding the quality of facilities, including issues with bed sizes and functional problems. Heavy rainfall and storms further disrupted arrangements, leading to athlete evacuations. While organizers claim to have resolved genuine concerns, national delegations have voiced criticism and made independent arrangements for their athletes, highlighting organizational challenges.

The 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya and Aichi, Japan, are marred by a severe accommodation shortage, forcing athletes from 45 countries into substandard hotels, temporary cabins, and a cruise ship. This cost-saving measure has resulted in widespread complaints regarding the quality of facilities, including issues with bed sizes and functional problems. Heavy rainfall and storms further disrupted arrangements, leading to athlete evacuations. While organizers claim to have resolved genuine concerns, national delegations have voiced criticism and made independent arrangements for their athletes, highlighting organizational challenges.

An accommodation shortage has driven up complaints from athletes in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, which is hosting the 2026 Asian Games. From the beginning, the sporting event was plagued by complaints from athletes who said it lacked proper organisation.

The 20th Asian Games are set to begin on September 19 and last till October 4 and will see about 17,000 athletes, a bigger number than the Olympics, participating. They will feature 45 countries participating in 43 different sports.

A major cost-cutting measure, however, has led to a massive shortage of rooms. Japanese officials decided that to save money, they would not build an athletes' village. Instead, they put competitors in hotels, temporary cabins and on cruise ships. Organisers said that accommodation was safe, cost-effective and comfortable. The Italian cruise ship “Costa Serena” is docked at a port in Nagoya and will lodge up to 5,000 athletes and officials.  The athletes would be rotated in and out as events end and new ones begin. About 2000 people are supposed to stay in huts.

The huts were built this year and approved 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,” chief organiser Hideaki Omura said

Teams criticised the quality of the accommodations; beds were too short, sinks were leaking. Many were left stranded and had to book rooms at the last minute.

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. South Korean officials criticised the huts and said that they were the worst ever. Jung Jae-yong, vice president of the Korea Basketball Association, said that athletes who were over two meters tall couldn't stretch their legs on the beds.

Hundreds of athletes were evacuated last week after heavy rainfall and storms in the region.

The Olympic Council of Asia has been attempting to quell complaints.

Chinese gymnast Zhang Boheng said he was “totally exhausted," in a video shared to Chinese social media.

"I didn't expect that after breakfast at 7 am the next time I could eat would be close to 7 pm," the 26-year-old who won two silver medals at the Paris Olympics and has two world championship titles said, The Bangkok Post reported.

Sahdev Yadav, Chef de Mission for India, also said there was a shortage of rooms and that they had to book additional rooms and organise transport for their players.

“Everyone has accommodation, and there is no problem from our side. There were some issues initially, which is why we booked an additional hotel. Our team is going directly to the airport. The accreditation process is quite lengthy and is being done on the cruise, so it is taking a lot of time. There are also some transportation issues, but we have made our own arrangements for cars and hotels for our players. We have already booked 18 rooms and will book another 10 today. There is definitely a shortage of accommodation,” he said.

“There has been some mismanagement, but this is such a big event that anything can happen. However, we don’t want to focus on who is at fault," Yadav said

Asian Games organising committee chairperson Tayaab Ikram on Friday dismissed social media discussion on the event’s organisation; he said that all the genuine complaints were addressed and brought down to zero.

"I think, as I mentioned before, at this moment, we have brought all the actual complaints down to zero. The rest is criticism from certain angles, which we strongly condemn. However, there are always actual issues and genuine concerns in every game," Ikram told ANI.

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