Varun Sanyal (left) and A person walks near wooden container units built to house athletes, ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, in Nagoya, Japan, September 15, 2026. Indian MMA athlete Varun Sanyal has spoken about the problems he faced after arriving in Japan for the Asian Games, where the sport is making its debut at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.
Sanyal, a bronze medallist at the Asian Championships in China in January 2026, travelled from London to Nagoya via Mumbai and Singapore. But his problems began after he reached Japan, where he said he was made to wait for hours at different facilities as officials struggled to clear him and assign him a room.
In a seven-minute video that he later deleted from social media, Sanyal said he faced long delays at the convention centre after officials could not find his name in their system. He had an official accreditation ID card, which also serves as his visa, but said officials were still unable to locate his details.
He said he was left waiting for around three hours without a clear resolution or food before being moved between different venues and eventually directed to the Costa Serena cruise ship, which is being used to house athletes." It's been one crazy day, and it's still not over.
I thought it was done, but it's not. There's a lot of chaos with regards to the athletes' rooms and assignment of rooms.
Had this happened in India, 100% this would be a bigger deal. The media would be running wild with it, and India as a country wouldn't hear the end of it," Sanyal said in the now-deleted video.
“When you get to Nagoya, from the airport they take you on a shuttle... and as soon as you get there, it's total chaos.
I go to the counter... and they just cannot find my name anywhere in the system.
Like, I'm a total ghost in their system. This took about two hours...
I'm not exaggerating, two hours they're like running around. By the time we left that facility, it had been three hours.
By the way, my situation wasn't solved,” he added. The delay also meant that Sanyal was unable to get food during the wait."
In none of these facilities was there any food. They'd give you water bottles, but there's no food and you can't even go anywhere and buy anything," he said."
