Japan to host ‘fun’ 2026 Asian Games

Japan’s central Aichi prefecture and its capital city Nagoya were confirmed as co-hosts of the 2026 Asian Games yesterday, adding another major event to the country’s bulging international sports calendar.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) formally endorsed the bid after Aichi prefecture governor Hideaki Ohumra and Nagoya city mayor Takashi Kawamura presented their joint offering to the OCA general assembly in Danang.

Kawamura promised that the Games would be fun, and even serenaded the assembly with a verse from the Elvis Presley song Can’t help falling in love to prove the point.

Both men emphasised the strength of Japan’s economy and advanced technology as well as the country’s successful record of staging major sports events.

Lone bidder

As the lone bidder for the Games, Japan’s proposal was rubber-stamped by the assembly and the host contract signed by the OCA and the bid delegates. The OCA had originally planned to choose the 2026 Asian Games host in 2018 but brought the vote forward to provide certainty to the region’s crammed sporting calendar which includes three Olympic events over the next eight years.

“The road map of our main event and sports calendar is very stable,” OCA president Shaikh Ahmad Al-Fahad AlSabah told the assembly in the Vietnamese city, which is currently hosting the 5th Asian Beach Games.

South Korea is hosting the Winter Olympics at Pyeonchang in 2018, while Tokyo hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics before the winter games go to Beijing in 2022.