India and five other nations’ flag-hoisting ceremony at the 2026 Asian Games was delayed by over an hour, with the organisers citing miscommunication between the Olympic Council of Asia and the local organising committee (ANAGOC) as the reason.
It is the latest in a series of teething problems that has plagued the buildup to the Games in Nagoya, Japan.
Flag-hoisting ceremonies are the official welcome events for travelling contingents at multi-sport events and are generally held a day before the official opening of the Games. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place at 1.30pm local time at Garden Pier, close to the container-style lodging for the athletes.
The other five contingents involved were Yemen, North Korea, Palestine, Chinese-Taipei and Timor-Leste. What initially began as a 20-minute delay ended up getting elongated and the contingents were asked to return to the resting area, according to PTI.
India’s chef-de-mission Sahdev Yadav and four deputy chef-de-missions — A Sharath Kamal, Lijo David Thottan, Alaknanda Ashok and Anjali Bhagwat — were present at the venue.
“We are sorry for the delay. There is some trouble with a team. We will try to restore (the ceremony) in another 15 minutes,” a senior ANAGOC official briefed the media through an interpreter, saying that it was the official statement.
It was later stated that the “trouble” was a case of miscommunication. “The communication between the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Executive Board and Organising Committee was not well, that’s why this happened,” stated another ANAGOC official after the ceremony.
“It’s not like that somebody (team) delayed the ceremony. The trouble mentioned in the earlier statement was that there was a miscommunication between the OCA and the ANAGOC,” the official said, while asserting that the delay nothing to do with Taiwan (Chinese-Taipei).
“It’s just lack of communication between OCA and ANAGOC.” The explanation came after another ANAGOC official had said the “delay had been due to the chief guest’s arrival getting delayed.” As the contingents waited, they were told to remain in the resting area until the organisers were ready to proceed.
When the much-delayed ceremony finally resumed and the flags were hoisted, only deputy chef-de-missions Anjali Bhagwat, a former rifle ace, and Lijo David Thottan, a former 4x400m relay athlete, went on stage as representatives of the Indian contingent. “I have not seen such a scene before,” Sahdev Yadav is quoted as saying by .