Nagoya (AsiaNews) – The first opponent facing the Nagoya-Aichi Asian Games might come from the Pacific. Japan is monitoring Typhoon No. 25, which could soon reach the main island of Honshu and disrupt the official opening of the XX Asian Games, tomorrow.
Organisers are preparing contingency plans in case the typhoon hits the Nagoya area, where athletes and delegations from 45 countries will compete.
Typhoon aside, this edition introduces numerous sporting innovations with 43 sports, for a total of 469 medal events. Compared to the 2023 Hangzhou Games, the schedule includes five new disciplines: mixed martial arts, padel, surfing, teqball, and virtual taekwondo.
Created in Hungary just over a decade ago based on the idea of playing soccer on a table tennis table, teqball is played on a curved table with players hitting the ball with any part of their body except their hands. The ball can be touched a maximum of three times before being returned to the opponent, and the same body part cannot be used consecutively.
Southeast Asian nations usually dominate this discipline, perhaps due to their familiarity with a similar sport, sepak takraw, a form of volleyball played with the feet.
Thailand, currently one of the world's powerhouses in the sport, has drawn heavily on sepak takraw players and coaches. Many moves, including the signature overhead kicks, have become assets for a discipline that originated in Europe. It is somewhat akin to cricket, which remains one of the most popular sports, particularly in South Asia.
Cricket was initially excluded from the Nagoya programme due to the lack of a suitable stadium in the area, but the organising committee and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) insisted on it, partly because cricket has been included in the programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Consequently, some facilities were repurposed, specifically baseball fields (another sport that originated in the West but is extremely popular in Japan).
Alongside the most well-known Olympic disciplines, sports deeply rooted in the continent's history and culture continue to play a central role.
This is the case for kabaddi, which originated in the Indian subcontinent and is now popular in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran. It is a team sport in which a player must enter the opposing half of the court, tag one or more defenders, and return to their own half without being tackled.
A unique feature is that the attacker must perform this while holding their breath and repeatedly chanting the name of the sport, "kabaddi", to show that they are not inhaling.
If the attacker inhales, stops chanting, or runs out of breath while in the opposing half, they are declared out, and the opposing team scores a point.
The Games also include wushu, the collective term for Chinese martial arts, covering both codified forms and combat, as well as kurash, a traditional Central Asian wrestling discipline practised primarily in Uzbekistan.
Conversely, other traditional disciplines featured in previous editions have been dropped, like Go (an ancient board game originating in China), Xiangqi (Chinese chess), bridge, and dragon boat racing.
After making their official debut at the Hangzhou Asian Games, so-called e-sports are back, attracting young people.
Nagoya-Aichi will feature 11 events and 13 video games, ranging from League of Legends and Pokémon Unite to PUBG Mobile, eFootball, Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Gran Turismo 7, reflecting the growing importance of a sector where Asia has developed some of the world’s largest markets and gaming communities.
Virtual taekwondo will also make its debut this year. Athletes compete without physical contact using virtual reality systems and motion-tracking technology, blending martial arts with tech in a space that remains physical yet is increasingly virtual.
Since the OCA has had to cut costs this year, it decided for the first time, not to build an athletes' village.
The approximately 17,000 athletes and officials attending the Games are distributed across hotels, temporary container-based facilities, and the Costa Serena, an Italian cruise ship docked in Nagoya’s port housing some 4,000 participants.
According to the OCA, this avoided the need to build major infrastructures that would have sat unused after the event; however, the Italian cruise ship now faces the possibility of a typhoon.
In such case, the Costa Serena will have to leave the port for safer waters. No alternative accommodations have been arranged for the athletes, meaning they would have to remain on board during the relocation.
Adverse weather could also force changes to the competition schedule if athletes are unable to reach the venues or participate in events due to the evacuation of the facilities.
