1 hour and 15 minute delay of team bus causes women's volleyball match to start late

A match at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games started late due to transportation issues for the athletes.

The 5th-8th place classification match between Vietnam and Indonesia in women's volleyball, originally scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM today at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, started 30 minutes late at 1:30 PM.

Vietnamese media outlet Bao Sai Gon giai phong reported that "The Vietnamese team was scheduled to board a shuttle bus at the athletes' hotel at 10:10 AM, but the vehicle assigned by the organizing committee arrived 1 hour and 15 minutes later than scheduled, causing major disruptions to the match preparation process."

The media outlet stated, "It is very unusual in an international comprehensive sporting event for the schedule to change right before a match," adding, "The Vietnamese team faced major setbacks in their match preparations, such as having to warm up hastily amid a chaotic atmosphere."

The transportation issues also affected athletic performance.

Earlier today, Vietnam suffered a 0-3 (20-25, 21-25, 18-25) sweep by Indonesia, dropping them to the 7th-place match.

The Vietnamese women's volleyball team also experienced transportation problems on September 15, the day they arrived in Nagoya.

At the time, an absurd incident occurred where a shuttle bus dropped the delegation off at the wrong hotel, forcing the athletes to pull their personal luggage and team equipment and walk to their assigned accommodations.

Delegations are continuously suffering from transportation issues at this tournament.

Athletes from the South Korean national team are taking major hits to their ability to maintain performance due to vehicle problems almost every day.

The South Korean men's basketball team, which won the gold medal, experienced a situation where no vehicle arrived to take them to the training ground on the morning of September 20, the day of the final match, preventing them from training.

The national team wasted a lot of time on the roadside as shuttle buses failed to arrive on time up until today (September 21), the day of their return home.

The South Korean under-23 (U-23) men's football team faced schedule disruptions on September 16 because a vehicle to transport them to the training ground was not dispatched, and on September 15, the day of the match against Qatar, they arrived at the stadium 30 minutes later than scheduled after a bizarre incident where the driver did not properly know the destination and headed to the wrong baseball field.

The South Korean baseball team used a training ground and shuttle buses independently arranged by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) because the organizing committee failed to provide proper training and transportation services.

Voices of frustration from various national delegations are growing louder.

Shooting athletes are also voicing difficulties regarding the excessive distance between their accommodations and the shooting venue.

The Indian national team, which won the silver medal in the women's 10m air rifle team event today (September 21), told the Indian Express, "To get from the accommodation to the shooting range, we have to travel a distance of over 70 km along winding roads for up to two hours," adding, "We struggled to reduce motion sickness and fatigue by banning athletes from using smartphones during transit and recommending the use of neck pillows."

They pointed out, "The organizing committee guided that it takes about 70 minutes from the accommodation to the venue, but the actual travel time is much longer," noting that "this is a stressful environment for shooting athletes where concentration is crucial."

(Photo provided by the Volleyball Federation of Vietnam, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.