Basketball: 'Bus No-Show,' Soccer: 'Baseball Stadium,' Volleyball: 'Dropped Off in the Middle of Nowhere'... Bus Horror Stories Keep Striking Only Korean National Teams [Nagoya AG]

[Financial News] How much longer must we watch this absurd farce? The situation has become embarrassing for the flagship event of an international competition like the Asian Games. The unbelievably amateurish operations of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organizing Committee have once again seriously tripped up a Korean national team. This time, it was the South Korea men's volleyball team.
An official from the Korea Volleyball Association expressed outrage on the 28th, saying, "The shuttle bus assigned by the organizing committee took the national team to the wrong venue, so this morning's training was canceled entirely."
The South Korea men's volleyball team was preparing for an important Group B second-round match against Taiwan at 7 p.m. that day. The morning was a crucial golden opportunity to loosen up and sharpen their game rhythm. Instead, the shuttle bus assigned by the organizing committee lost its way and dropped the team off at a completely unrelated location rather than its training venue. The original training venue was a full hour away by car. With time running out, it was impossible to travel there and hold the session, leaving the team to lose its valuable morning training altogether.
What makes the situation particularly infuriating is that the South Korean side had taken thorough precautions to prevent it. An official from the Korea Volleyball Association said, "Transportation problems have been especially frequent at this tournament, so we checked and rechecked with the organizing committee three or four times yesterday. Even so, this absurd situation occurred," making no attempt to conceal his anger. For athletes whose match-day condition is vital, an administrative blunder by the organizing committee is nothing short of a devastating assault.
The Aichi-Nagoya organizing committee's 'transportation disaster' is not limited to yesterday or today. Korean national teams have suffered throughout the Games because of the committee's baffling vehicle-dispatch problems.

Just last Sunday, on the 20th, the South Korea men's basketball team, which won its first gold medal in 12 years, was also unable to train on the morning of its final against Japan because the vehicle assigned to take it to the training venue never arrived. Since the opponent happened to be Japan, suspicions even arose that it was an instance of host-country favoritism.
The soccer team was also a victim. Before their match against Qatar on the 15th, the South Korea national under-23 men's football team led by coach Hwang Sun-hong experienced a bizarre incident in which its driver got lost and headed to a 'baseball stadium' instead of a football venue. The team eventually arrived 30 minutes later than scheduled and rushed through the match. The following day, on the 16th, no vehicle was dispatched at all, disrupting its training schedule.
Of course, South Korea is not the only country affected. During the women's volleyball ranking match on the 21st, the Vietnam women's volleyball team's bus arrived 1 hour and 15 minutes late, creating another farcical situation that delayed the match itself.
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games have delivered failing-grade operations in every respect, including accommodations, transportation and training conditions—worse than even a local community sports meet. The athletes' sweat is being tainted by the organizing committee's ridiculous blunders.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter