(Left to right): PV Sindhu had to play three matches in less than 18 hours, as China's Liu Shengshu appeared exhausted during the women's doubles final at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. Japan wanted to deliver a cost-effective Asian Games, but instead, it produced a Games of shock and disruption. Accommodation was already a bone of contention before the Games got underway on September 19. Then, a scheduling mess in badminton rocked the sport, putting players' health at risk and raising questions about the very idea of the Games. Shuttlers were forced to play matches within a short span of time, sometimes two in a day, making the proceeding at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium at Aichi Perfecture unprecedented. The gruelling schedule prompted India's Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist HS Prannoy to compare the event to 'South Zone Championship', a regional badminton tournament in India. At regional championships, it is normal for youngsters to play two matches a day with most matches being short in length, and often more if they compete in multiple categories. But such scheduling harakiri is unheard of at major international events, where the matches are longer. Badminton is an intense sport in which players experience repeated spikes in heart rate during a match, making adequate recovery time essential before they return to the court for the next match. However, at the 2026 Asian Games, these essential health considerations were overlooked. PV Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist and 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, was forced to play three matches in less than 18 hours. Insane, as it might sound! Ahead of her quarterfinal clash against Chen Yufei, Sindhu's match against Tomoka Miyazaki ended at 1 AM local time. With the hotel located almost 30 km from the venue, her time to sleep was cut short. The very next day, her quarterfinal was scheduled before 12 PM. With a worn-out body and little time to recover, Sindhu endured a gruelling 75-minute, tried her heart out and fell short just three points from closing out the match. "Three matches in 18 hours. Back at 3 a.m., out again at 8:30 a.m. It took a toll. But after a camp that gave me every reason to believe, I wanted so much more," Sindhu wrote on X of her ordeal. Sindhu, however, was not the only victim of the scheduling mess. Social media was abuzz with Chinese, Korean, Thai and Indonesian players, officials and fans voicing their frustration over the schedule. An Se Young, the World No. 1 women's singles player who defended her gold, voiced her disappointment with the organisation. "Are you guys trying to kill me?" she asked immediately after beating local girl Akane Yamaguchi in straight games in the final. Young had played two matches on the same day ahead of her quarterfinal clash against Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon, who was also forced to play twice that day, leaving both players exhausted. Yamaguchi, incidentally, stayed closer to the venue, raising questions about bias. Unlike BWF World Tour events and international events like the Olympics, the badminton competition at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya was spread over just five days, a day shorter than the usual schedule. The dangerous consequences of the scheduling mess came into sharp focus during the women's doubles final, whose harrowing scenes are still doing the rounds on social media. Korea's Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee faced China's Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in a gruelling battle. By the time they took to the court for the final, Ha Na and So Hee had already spent nearly four hours on court, while Liu and Tan had played for close to three hours, leaving both pairs with precious little time to recover.