[Anchor]
Although the competition officially kicks off tomorrow (September 19), poor operational management continues to be exposed across various venues. Today, an absurd incident occurred at the hockey national team's venue where the North Korean national anthem was played instead of the South Korean national anthem. From immigration procedures to meals and lodging issues, complaints from athletes are erupting.
Reporter Yu Byeongmin has the story from the location.
[Reporter]
Our men's hockey players preparing for their first match get ready for the national ceremony.
[Playing the national anthem of South Korea.]
However, suddenly, the North Korean national anthem rings out instead of Aegukga, leaving the flustered players not knowing what to do.
After the Bangladeshi national anthem ended, they waited for Aegukga, but when it didn't play, players from both teams started high-fiving each other—and only then did Aegukga finally begin.
Despite experiencing such an absurd incident, our athletes did not lose their composure and capped off their first match with a victory.
Just like this, with the opening ceremony only a day away, the tournament's operation remains absolute chaos.
Our teqball athletes, staying in a cramped business hotel, are only provided breakfast at the hotel and have to use the venue cafeteria for lunch, but they are struggling because the menu is far too inadequate.
[Kim Eun-jun / Teqball National Team: Lunch is just too absurdly lacking in nutrients or in filling our stomachs.]
Thai athletes grew so exhausted from waiting for their competition AD card registration upon entry that they boiled instant ramen they brought with them and slept on the floor, while Indian athletes arrived at their cruise ship accommodation 10 hours after landing at Nagoya Airport, only to be shocked to find their room had been double-booked with other athletes.
[Varun Sanyal / Indian Mixed Martial Arts National Team: I saw two athletes standing in my room. The organizing committee's system assigned this room to me, but originally this room belonged to those athletes. It is just a complete mess.]
Complaints are exploding everywhere, but the organizing committee dismissed the athletes' grievances as fake news, claiming the tournament is proceeding smoothly.
[Tayyab Ikram / Asian Games Coordination Committee Chair: Rooms have been provided to all athletes, and they are staying comfortably. I won't mention names, but there is a lot of false information on social media.]
With the tournament operations still in disarray, confusion is expected to continue for some time even after tomorrow's opening.
(Video reporting: Park Jin-ho, Yang Hyun-chul | Video editing: Kim Jin-won | Design: Cho Su-in | Video source: Social Media (SNS))
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