India simulates Asian Games shipping container accommodation for athletes in Patiala and Bengaluru

Patiala: India has gone to great lengths to give its athletes a taste of the accommodation at the Asian Games, temporarily housing them in shipping container-style units to replicate the lodgings in Japan.

Nagoya and Aichi will stage the Games from September 19 to October 4 but in a bid to cut costs there will not be an athletes’ village. Instead, the more than 17,000 athletes and officials — a bigger number than the Olympics — will stay on a cruise ship and in hotels.

Read more: Asiad-bound shooters to undergo final preparatory camps in Delhi and Bhopal


There is a third type of accommodation: temporary units mostly made of wood and expected to be home to about 2,000 participants.

To prepare its competitors, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Friday unveiled similar lodgings at athlete headquarters in Patiala and Bengaluru. Indian competitors will spend a night or two in them to get used to what lies ahead.

“These containers are like a simulator,” Vineet Kumar, deputy director general of the SAI, told AFP in Patiala.

Read more: Asian Games 2026: India eyes record medal haul in Aichi-Nagoya

He added: “It is a unique concept as never in an Asian Games or Olympics this kind of accommodation was used. “So specifically we created this to make sure that our athletes don’t feel the shock and get claustrophobic when they are given such accommodation in Japan.”

The Indian containers are about 40 feet (12 metres) long and eight feet wide. They are equipped with four beds, two air conditioners, a fridge, storage tables, toilet, washroom and washing machine.

Images of the cabins in Japan show they have similar amenities.

The SAI, which arranged for journalists to visit the two cabins in Patiala and speak to athletes, says a roster has been prepared for Indian competitors to stay in the containers before flying to Japan.