Organisational chaos again dogged the Asian Games in Japan on Monday when the official bus carrying the Pakistan men’s volleyball team went to the wrong venue.
Pakistan’s group game with Uzbekistan had to be pushed back 45 minutes because of the mishap.
“This is another mismanagement by Japan at the ongoing Asian Games,” Pakistan captain Murad Jehan said from the bus in an Instagram video.
“We have a very important game and the bus driver does not know in which gymnasium we are going to play,” he said in the clip with a caption reading, “Embarrassing situation at Japan Asian Games 2026. Totally unfair.”
He added: “We couldn’t expect this in Japan. There is a lot of mismanagement.”
The bus transporting the Pakistan players was supposed to go to an arena in Okazaki, southeast of Games host city Nagoya.
However, the vehicle mistakenly took them to another Games venue staging volleyball about an hour’s drive away.
“As a result, the team arrived late at the correct competition venue, and we were required to delay the match by 45 minutes,” said an official Games communique.
Pakistan won the match 3-0.
It is more embarrassment for red-faced organisers of the Games, where there have been numerous complaints about the accommodation and transport services.
Teams have found that buses sometimes arrive at incorrect times, or even not at all.
South Korea were left furious after the bus that was supposed to take them to light practice before their men’s basketball final against hosts Japan failed to turn up.
Source: Khaleej Times