Asian Games 2026: Dates, venues, sports activities and a rising lodging disaster | Sport Information

The 2026 Asian Games return to Japan this September larger than ever, with a number of sports activities making their debut on the twentieth milestone version.

More than 11,000 athletes from 45 nations will compete on the world’s second-largest multisport occasion.

Japan will play host for the third time, following Tokyo 1958 and Hiroshima 1994, which noticed their largest medal haul of 218 medals.

Here’s all the things to know concerning the quadrennial continental occasion:

When and the place are the video games happening?

Officially referred to as Aichi-Nagoya 2026, the video games can be held in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture and metropolis of Nagoya from September 19 till October 4, though the soccer and basketball competitions have already begun.

The record-breaking programme can be held throughout 54 competitors venues, together with some just like the Tokyo Aquatics Centre and Equestrian Park used for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

What sports activities are being performed, and which make their debut?

A complete of 43 sports activities can be performed throughout 71 disciplines and 469 occasions.

Six sports activities make their Asian Games debut: browsing, freestyle BMX, combined martial arts, padel, teqball, and digital taekwondo.

The full checklist options: creative swimming, archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, 3×3 basketball, boxing, breaking, canoe slalom, canoe dash, cricket, biking (highway), biking (observe), mountain bike, BMX racing, BMX freestyle, diving, equestrian, esport, fencing, soccer, golf, gymnastics (creative), gymnastics (rhythmic), gymnastics (trampoline), handball, hockey, judo, ju-jitsu, kabaddi, karate, kurash, combined martial arts, pentathlon, padel, rowing, rugby sevens, crusing, sepak takraw, taking pictures, skateboarding, softball, browsing, squash, swimming, sport climbing, desk tennis, taekwondo, tennis, comfortable tennis, triathlon, volleyball, seaside volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu.

When is the opening ceremony?

The opening ceremony will happen on the Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya from 6pm native time (09:00 GMT).

The torch relay was inaugurated in Nagoya on August 22 by three-time Olympic wrestling gold medallist Saori Yoshida and it’ll mild the cauldron on the opening ceremony on September 19 after visiting 40 municipalities in Nagoya.

Where will the athletes keep?

The standard athletes’ village has been changed with native inns, short-term wood huts, and a cruise liner, which organisers say is secure, cost-effective and cozy.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 athletes will keep on Italian cruise ship Costa Serena, which options 571 cabins, seven swimming swimming pools, eight eating places and 9 bars. An extra 2,000 athletes and officers will keep in wood delivery container-style huts in Nagoya’s Garden Pier space whereas the remainder will keep in inns.

Why is there a rising lodging disaster?

Athletes arriving within the industrial metropolis have been met with an lodging scarcity, lower than optimum situations and an approaching storm.

Last week, a whole lot of athletes have been briefly evacuated from their lodging as report rainfall lashed Nagoya. Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa mentioned the in depth flooding left the athletes unhurt, including:  “We are not worried about the conditions of the venues, and we believe there is no problem holding the Asian Games as planned.”

But the lodging disaster has gone from unhealthy to worse in a matter of days. Complaints ranged from undersized beds and cramped situations to female and male athletes being assigned the identical room, which has led to the host Japan staff various preparations.

Transportation mishaps have additionally been reported; South Korea’s males’s soccer staff was taken to the baseball stadium as a substitute, leading to a 30-minute delay of their coaching session.

Local organisers have mentioned the pressure on lodging arose as a result of they have been anticipating 15,000 folks – together with athletes and officers – for the Games, however numbers elevated to greater than 17,000 as new sports activities have been added.

Do the video games function qualifiers for LA28?

Yes, the 2026 Asian Games double as a qualifying occasion for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics for a handful of sports activities.

In hockey, the profitable males’s and girls’s groups will straight qualify for the Olympic Games. Should they already qualify by profitable the FIH Pro League, the spot will go to the following greatest staff.

In squash, which makes its Olympic debut in 2028, the lads’s and girls’s gold medal winners qualify straight for one in all 16 spots on the Olympics. Granted, the gamers should additionally function within the Top 50 PSA rankings as of May 22, 2028.

The highest-ranked surfer per gender on the Asian Games will qualify for the Olympics via the continental quota.

Other sports activities which double as Olympic qualification embody archery, crusing, tennis, and triathlon.

Which nation has been essentially the most profitable in Asian Games historical past?

China has been a dominant pressure on the video games, topping the medal standings yearly since 1982. At the Hangzhou 2023 video games, the People’s Republic completed with 383 medals (201 gold, 111 silver, and 71 bronze).

That’s greater than double the 188 medals gained by second-place Japan, which has constantly shared a podium end alongside South Korea.

Kazakhstan, Iran, India, Indonesia (host of the 2018 version), Uzbekistan and Thailand have commonly completed within the prime 10 medal standings.