"Looks Like They Were Playing Home-Team Favorites"—Japan Apologizes After Bus No-Show Ahead of Basketball Final Against South Korea

[Financial News] The organizing committee for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games admitted its mistake and apologized after failing to provide the South Korean men's basketball team with a bus to its training venue on the day of the men's basketball final.
According to Japan's Nikkan Sports on the 22nd, the organizing committee apologized over the bus that failed to show up for the South Korean delegation's morning practice on the 20th, the day of the men's basketball final between South Korea and Japan.
An organizing committee official acknowledged, "It was clearly a mistake by the organizing committee," but did not clearly explain what caused the incident.
The men's national basketball team had planned to hold a separate practice at the gym that morning ahead of the evening final. However, the bus scheduled to arrive at the team's accommodation at 10 a.m. did not show up and provided no explanation, forcing the team to cancel practice.
It was especially conspicuous because Japan, the host country, was South Korea's opponent in the final. Some people consequently suspected that the organizers had deliberately shown host-nation favoritism.
The South Korean men's basketball team also had to wait outside with its luggage for some time because the bus failed to arrive on schedule for its trip home. On the 21st, Jun Seok Yeo shared images on Instagram of the national team waiting endlessly for the bus, along with the caption, "The bus isn't coming even on the day we're leaving."
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) indicated that it would take official action, stating, "We plan to send letters of protest to the organizing committee and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and request meetings with senior organizing committee officials."
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