Asian Games crowds in spotlight as 998 see hosts in 50,000 stadium

Under 1,000 spectators watched Asian Games hosts Japan beat South Korea in the semi-finals of the women's football at a 50,000-capacity stadium, with a top official admitting Wednesday that attendances at some events were "disappointing".

Japanese organisers have been on the defensive over ticket sales since the opening ceremony on September 19 took place in front of thousands of empty seats in Nagoya.

Officials said on that occasion that the threat of a typhoon put people off, and heavy rain fell from Sunday until Tuesday this week.

While some competitions have played out to healthy crowds, others have struggled to attract fans.

Tuesday's first women's football semi-final at the stadium in Shizuoka, a venue for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, saw North Korea beat China 2-0 in front of an official attendance of 564.

With rain falling steadily, 998 people then saw the hosts defeat South Korea by the same scoreline.

Japan and North Korea will meet for gold on Friday at the same stadium.

Takashi Yamazaki, head of ticketing, told reporters on Wednesday: "Sports that are selling well are... at 80 percent or 90 percent or more."

But he added: "On the other hand, the large venues for baseball and football, as well as athletics, have struggled from the start because of their size.

"Tickets usually surge in the final stretch before an event.

"But as you know, there was a long spell of cold rain, and sales stalled.

"We were already struggling more than expected, and then sales stalled further.

"That is a little disappointing."

Organisers in Aichi-Nagoya said Tuesday that more than one million tickets had been sold for the continent's biggest sporting spectacular.

But they also admitted they were "not satisfied" after the men's and women's 100m, the blue-riband athletics events, took place in front of thousands of empty seats on Friday.

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