Badminton star, Indian HS Prannoy, who won several medals, described the Asian Games in Japan as “very sad” for the athletes, considering that it was at a lower level compared to the Chinese version three years ago.
The organizers of the Aichi-Nagoya Games did not build a traditional village for athletes, in a move aimed at reducing costs; Instead, participants stayed in hotels, temporary wooden units, and a cruise ship.
Prannoy, who won the team bronze, said this made the athletes' experience disappointing.
“It was sad,” the 34-year-old said in a video clip posted by the Indian Badminton Association on YouTube on Saturday.
He added: "Honestly, we never felt like we were participating in the Asian Games."
He continued: “The fun and main goal of holding a multi-sport event is to have the opportunity to meet the rest of the athletes, interact with them, and have conversations with them.”
He added: “This is the goal of holding a multi-sport tournament... and it was very sad to find ourselves in such a situation, especially when you remember the Hangzhou 2023 tournament, and realize the extent of the astonishment that China presented in organizing it.”
The tournament witnessed a series of problems, including a shortage of rooms, long delays at airports, and poor transportation services.
Prannoy, who won two silver and a bronze medal in Hangzhou, added: “You expect the situation to be better after three or four years.”
He continued: “But things declined, and I think that many athletes faced difficult experiences regarding accommodation and means of transportation.”
He noted: “Honestly, it was a very average course.”
Canadian Laila Fernandez defeated Australian Talia Gibson 7-5, 6-0, on Sunday, to win the Singapore Open and achieve the sixth title of her career on the WTA Tour.
Fernandez, ranked 31st in the world, started strong after breaking her opponent's serve early in the first set, but Gibson did not give up; She succeeded twice in recovering from a break of serve to equalize the score.
Fernandez (24 years old) regained her balance in the final stages of the first set, and took advantage of the first decisive point available to her to win the set with a score of 7 - 5. Then Fernandez took control of the second set and advanced with two consecutive breaks of serve as Gibson’s resistance faded. The Canadian player ended the set with an overwhelming result; 6 - 0, to win the title.
As for Gibson, who reached the first final of her career in the WTA tournaments after her semi-final opponent, Tatiana Prozorova, was forced to withdraw, she missed the opportunity to win her first title.
The Algerian national team's technical staff decided to exclude Rayan Ait Nouri, on Saturday, from the current training camp, against the backdrop of an incident that witnessed tension between the left-back and the technical staff during the confrontation with Zambia, which was held on Friday and ended with a 3-1 victory for the "Desert Warriors" in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Ait Nouri, the English Manchester City player, had refused to implement the instructions of the technical staff following a heated verbal argument, after he was preparing to participate as a substitute, before the decision to include him was changed after the Algerian national team scored its second goal.
Nouri, 25 years old, started the match on the bench, given his limited participation with City since the beginning of the season, as he played only two matches with his team.
After scoring the second goal for Algeria, the player returned to the bench, before he was asked to resume the warm-up, but he did not respond to the instructions, which led to escalation of tension with the technical staff.
Ait Nouri did not participate in the match, before the national team coach, Ibrahim Hamdani, decided to exclude him from the camp.
The Algerian Football Federation said in a statement: “The national voter, Mr. Ibrahim Hamdani, decided this Saturday to release Rayan Ait Nouri from the current squad for the national team. The Algerian international will return to his club, Manchester City.”
