Varun Sanyal criticises accommodation chaos at Nagoya Asian Games, says India would have faced global ridicule

Indian mixed martial artist Varun Sanyal said on September 17, 2026 that the accommodation chaos at the Asian Games in Nagoya would have made India "the butt of the joke" if the same issues had occurred there. He made the remarks after experiencing a prolonged scramble for rooms that involved being moved between multiple facilities and hours of delay.

Varun described arriving at the convention centre after landing from the airport and being unable to find his name in the organisers' accommodation system despite holding a valid Asian Games ID card. "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. He was sent between three facilities before finally being allotted a room, only to discover that other athletes had been assigned the same space.

Describing the scene on arrival, Varun said: "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 added that officials at the registration counter could not find his details: "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." Organisers spent around two hours trying to resolve the issue before sending him to the Costa Serena cruise ship, and by then roughly three hours had passed without a solution.

At the Costa Serena, Varun said officials again failed to locate his booking and directed him to contact India's National Olympic Committee, after which he was shifted to another facility. He reported a lack of food at the locations where athletes were routed: "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. "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."

Varun said he encountered athletes from Tajikistan and Sri Lanka who were facing similar problems and described the issue as widespread: "Everyone is facing a similar issue. So this has gone, this has become widespread. So I'm like, what the hell is going on?" He eventually received a berth on the Costa Serena but was disturbed about 30 minutes after sleeping when two Indian athletes appeared at his bunk, equally confused.

Recalling the double-booking, Varun said: "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 added: "Turns out in the system, they've assigned me this room. But this room originally belonged to them." About the uncertainty for all involved he said: "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 complaints from Varun come amid broader concerns within the Indian contingent, with athletes from rowing, wushu and table tennis checking into the Costa Serena and reports of overcrowded rooms. A member of the Indian contingent speaking on condition of anonymity said: "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 official added: "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 reportedly staying outside the ship, and one athlete said: "We reached the cruise ship registration area around 9am (on Wednesday), then we waited and waited and finally entered our rooms almost at midnight."

India's Chef de Mission Sahdev Yadav acknowledged organisational problems, telling PTI: "There has been a bit of mismanagement from them (organisers) but we are sorting out the issue. We are working on that." The Aichi-Nagoya Games have eschewed a single Athletes' Village, instead housing about 17,000 athletes and officials across multiple sites including the Costa Serena, hotels and container-style wooden huts around Aichi prefecture, and some athletes competing in Tokyo are also staying at these locations.

Those dispersed arrangements have produced lengthy travel for some teams: Indian rowers face roughly 30km journeys to the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course that can take more than an hour, table tennis players travel around 30km for training, and India's wushu team travels about 30 minutes by bus to the Aichi Prefecture Martial Arts Hall, more than 10km from the ship. Around 200 container-style wooden huts are being used to lodge about 2,000 athletes from sports such as football, basketball, baseball, softball, jiu-jitsu and kurash.

Deputy Chef de Mission Alaknanda Ashok said: "Kurash team will stay there (container villas). They will reach here around September 24," and South Korean officials have criticised the container accommodation as cramped. Aichi-Nagoya organising committee president Hideaki Omura defended the temporary lodging, saying it could serve as a model for financially sustainable sporting events. With the opening ceremony just days away, the accommodation arrangements remain a concern as athletes prepare for competition.