The official bus carrying Pakistan’s men’s volleyball team arrived at the wrong venue amid ongoing organisational issues at the Asian Games in Japan on Monday.
What happened?
Pakistan's group game with Uzbekistan had to be pushed back 45 minutes because of the mishap.
The bus transporting the Pakistan players was supposed to go to an arena in Okazaki, southeast of Games host city Nagoya.
However, the vehicle mistakenly took them to another Games venue staging volleyball about an hour's drive away.
"As a result, the team arrived late at the correct competition venue, and we were required to delay the match by 45 minutes," said an official Games communique.
Pakistan's volleyball captain shares details
In a video on social media platform Instagram, Pakistan volleyball captain Murad Jehan said that his team were taken to the wrong venue ahead of their Pool A match against Uzbekistan. "We have a very important match and the bus driver doesn't know which gymnasium we are going to play," he said in a video from the bus.
"He took a wrong way and came to a wrong gymnasium and now we are short of time. It's an embarrassing situation," he added. "We did not expect this from Japan. This should not have happened."
Jehan said the detour left the squad with no time for a proper warm-up, forcing players to change into their playing kit on the moving bus.
"Really disappointing situation. This is not the only mismanagement that athletes are facing here," he said, adding food was not always available to athletes at dining areas following their training sessions.
