India badminton medallist H.S. Prannoy has criticised Asian Games organisers for putting on a “sad” event for athletes and arranging a “cruel” competition schedule for his sport.

Prannoy, who won a men’s team bronze at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, said ‌the lack of a dedicated athletes’ village had taken away the joy of mixing with other competitors, who had been spread across hotels, temporary wooden units and a cruise ship.

“The whole fun and the whole point of multi-sport events is you get to meet the rest of the players,” he said in a video interview posted on ⁠the Badminton Association of India’s YouTube channel on Saturday.

“There is an opportunity to mingle with them. There is an opportunity to have a conversation with them. We only felt that when we went for the opening ceremony.

“It was literally sad to be in such a situation.”

Prannoy said the Games compared poorly to his experience at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, where he was part of the silver medal-winning men’s team.

“Straight from China, you expect things to be better three-four years later but in this event, (it went) downwards. A lot of (athletes) ‌had ⁠difficult experiences in terms of accommodation and transport.

“It was just a mediocre event, to be honest.”

Aichi-Nagoya organisers did not immediately respond on Sunday to a request for comment on Prannoy’s remarks.

On Saturday, an Aichi-Nagoya Games organising committee official apologised for logistical mistakes that have affected athletes, saying accommodation and transport had ⁠improved and that staff were working “to identify the causes of each mistake and make sure they don’t happen again”.

A number of athletes and teams have complained of logistical problems at the Games, ranging from ⁠long waits to check in to their rooms, to transport glitches.

Prannoy also criticised the badminton scheduling, noting players in the singles tournament had competed in two matches a day, one ⁠more than usual.

“It’s cruel because everybody is aiming for a good Asian Games, which comes once in four years. To have two singles games in a day, I haven’t seen it like that in ages,” said Prannoy.