The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games came to an end on Sunday after more than two weeks of intense sporting competition, with the Olympic Council of Asia formally handing over the baton to Doha, which will host the 2030 edition.
OCA President Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani declared the 20th Asian Games closed at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. Thousands of athletes, officials and spectators gathered for the closing ceremony, which was held under the theme ‘One Asia’.
Shooter Neeru Dhandha, one of India’s standout performers at the Games, was the country’s flagbearer at the closing ceremony. Dhandha won two gold medals and a silver in Aichi-Nagoya.
India finished fourth in the overall medal standings with 85 medals, including 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. It was a drop from the 106 medals, including 28 gold, won at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, with India finishing fourth on both occasions.
China topped the standings with 341 medals, including 169 gold. Japan were second with 269 medals and 83 gold, while South Korea finished third with 150 medals, including 39 gold.
India’s fourth-place finish keeps it among Asia’s leading sporting nations, but the gap to the top remains significant. The country has set its sights on breaking into the top 10 at the 2036 Olympics and finishing among the top five by 2047, making sustained improvement across disciplines an important target.
A late surge kept India in the top four. The country won 11 gold medals in the final two days of competition, a run that proved crucial to its final position in the standings.
The biggest shortfall came in two traditional medal-producing disciplines, shooting and athletics. Both had arrived in Aichi-Nagoya with high expectations but returned with fewer medals than they managed in Hangzhou, highlighting concerns over consistency, pressure management and preparation.
The Games themselves were not without controversy.
Around 17,000 athletes and officials travelled to Aichi-Nagoya, with competitors taking part in 469 gold-medal events. The competition was spread across venues from Tokyo to Osaka. The scale of the event was at odds with the organisers’ stated aim of staging a “simple, streamlined and functional event”, with accommodation and transport problems causing repeated headaches.
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Athletes and teams complained about bungled accommodation and transport arrangements, prompting repeated apologies from the organising committee.
“Accommodation, transport and other issues — it seems a lot of teams were affected,” Hong Kong team chef de mission Wong Po-kee told Reuters on Sunday.
Organisers chose a mix of hotels, wooden container units and a cruise ship to accommodate athletes and officials, rather than building a dedicated athletes’ village as a cost-cutting measure.
They had budgeted for around 15,000 athletes and officials, about 2,000 fewer than the eventual number of registrations, and struggled to cope with the additional demand.
Some athletes reportedly waited as long as 12 hours to complete registration after arriving. Others found their rooms double-booked or discovered they were sharing with teammates they were not supposed to be housed with.
Transport problems persisted throughout the Games. Shuttle buses sometimes failed to arrive or took athletes to the wrong venues, resulting in delays to several competitions.
South Korea’s delegation were among the most vocal critics of the organisation. Its team chef de mission gave the Games an ‘F’ for their organisation.
There was an awkward moment after South Korea won the men’s football gold medal against Japan on Saturday when the South Korean flag could not be raised during the victory ceremony.
Earlier in the Games, the North Korean national anthem was played for South Korea’s men’s hockey team, adding to the list of organisational errors.
Attendance was another concern. Five years after the Tokyo Olympics were held without fans because of COVID-19 restrictions, Japan’s first major multi-sport event since then struggled to attract large crowds.
Fewer than 1,000 spectators watched Japan’s women’s football team beat South Korea in the semi-final at a stadium with a capacity of 50,000.
Several smaller venues were also sparsely attended. Many of them were located in far-flung areas, making access difficult for spectators.
“If I had to say, well, I don’t think it was a success,” Nagoya resident Naoko Toda, who watched several competitions, told Reuters before the closing ceremony.
The OCA, however, declared Aichi-Nagoya a success and praised organisers for delivering the Games through a frugal model.
Aichi-Nagoya also expanded the Asian Games programme. Padel, mixed martial arts, teqball and surfing made their debuts, with the event featuring a record 43 sports, a programme that was larger than that of the Paris Olympics.
The Asian Games began on September 19 and concluded on October 4, bringing more than two weeks of competition to a close.
For India, the final medal tally offered both positives and reminders of the work ahead. The fourth-place finish was retained, but the 85-medal haul fell well short of the 106 won in Hangzhou. The late gold rush ensured India remained among the continent’s leading sporting nations, while the performances in shooting and athletics underlined areas that will require attention.
The baton now passes to Doha.
Qatar is scheduled to host the 2030 Asian Games, although the OCA may consider moving the event to 2031 so that it can serve as a continental Olympic qualification event ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
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