Featured image credit: Aichi-Nagoya 2026
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has provided a venue update for the 2026 Asian Games in Japan, with the main stadium scheduled for completion six months before the start of the event.
The 2026 edition of the multi-sport event will take place in the Aichi Prefecture from September 19 to October 4, and the OCA is hoping the 30,000-capacity Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium will be ready by March of that year.
The stadium will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, as well as athletics competitions.
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organising Committee (AINAGOC) provided a progress report to the OCA during the latter’s general assembly in New Delhi on Sunday. While the organising committee said that venue construction is on track, one of the main topics of discussion was the provision of a suitable Games Village for the event.
The AINAGOC has previously ruled out the construction of a dedicated Games Village, with plans to accommodate up to 15,000 athletes and officials in hotels and other accommodation across Nagoya, Aichi, and co-hosting cities such as Tokyo.
At the last OCA general assembly, the organising committee said that it planned on using a cruise ship docked in Nagoya Port as a Games Village, accommodating 4,000 athletes and officials. The cruise ship was one of 50 accommodations in the plan, and its adjoining pier would be used for cultural events and activities.
However, the OCA has expressed concerns about National Olympic Committees having athletes, officials and entourage staff scattered around the city, prefecture and further afield. OCA director general Husain Al Musallam has said he is worried that the “Games spirit” will be lost without a dedicated Games Village.
As a result, the OCA executive board has given a mandate to the OCA Coordination Committee to look into the issue during meetings in Nagoya later this month. Tsunekazu Takeda, the OCA’s vice-president for the 2026 Games, will meet with Aichi Prefecture Governor Hideaki Ohmura to discuss the plans.
In other news, a baseball stadium in Nagoya could be used as a makeshift cricket venue for the Games if the sport is included on the events programme
Speaking to the Reuters news agency, OCA deputy director general Vinod Kumar Tiwari said that a stadium proposed by the Japan Cricket Association in Tochigi Prefecture is too far away from other host venues.
Tiwari said that converting one of the baseball stadiums in Nagoya would be “much more feasible” for the organising committee. Cricket has not been confirmed on the programme for the 2026 Games but it was contested at the most recent Games in Hangzhou last year.
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