The 2026 Asian Games will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan; however, to cut costs, there will be no athletes’ village. As a result, the 17,000+ athletes and officials — more than at the Olympics — will stay on a cruise ship and in hotels. There will also be a third type of accommodation, temporary units which are expected to house at least 2,000 athletes.
To prepare its athletes, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has decided to replicate the living situation by having them accommodated in shipping container-style units to replicate the lodgings in Japan. The lodgings were unveiled on Friday at the athletes’ headquarters in Patiala and Bengaluru.
Indian competitors will spend a night or two in them to get used to what lies ahead. “These containers are like a simulator,” Vineet Kumar, deputy director general of the SAI, told AFP in Patiala.
He added: “It is a unique concept, as never in the Asian Games or Olympics has this kind of accommodation been used. So specifically we created this to make sure that our athletes don’t feel the shock and get claustrophobic when they are given such accommodation in Japan.”
The Indian containers are about 40 feet (12 metres) long and eight feet wide. They are equipped with four beds, two air conditioners, a fridge, storage tables, a toilet, a washroom and a washing machine. Images of cabins from Japan show that they have similar amenities.
SAI arranged for journalists to visit the two cabins in Patiala and speak to athletes, and says a roster has been prepared for Indian competitors to stay in the containers before flying to Japan.
“A player’s psychology is so strong that if there is any problem in such logistics, then their level of competition gets affected, and we took care of this,” Kumar said while giving a tour. “All the athletes have enjoyed their stay, and it was like a miracle to them to stay in it.”
Kumar, who credited India’s Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya with the “unique idea”, said the accommodation was as close as possible to what athletes would experience in Japan.
Two-time Asian Games Shot Put champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor is one of the athletes to experience the accommodation in Patiala. Toor, who is 1.92 meters tall, sat on the bed and moved around the unit to show how he fits his sizable frame into it.
“It was awkward initially, but after having spent a night, I got comfortable because they have equipped it with everything that I need,” Toor told AFP. “Even the rooms in Tokyo and Paris (Olympics) were not that big. This, of course, is like a cubicle, but it’s fine.”
Seema Kaliramna, a discus thrower, stated that adjusting in any situation is part of being an elite athlete. “I thought it would be claustrophobic in here, but after spending some time I got used to it,” Kaliramna, who won bronze at the recent Commonwealth Games, said.
