Japan organizers 'not satisfied' as empty seats blight Asian Games
NAGOYA, Japan — Asian Games organizers admitted on Saturday they were "not satisfied" with ticket sales after swathes of empty seats were seen at the main stadium and other venues in Japan. The 100m sprints are one of the highlights of any Games, but the 30,000-capacity Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium appeared to be only about one-quarter full on Friday night for the blue-riband events. Even the prospect of a women's pole vault gold for Japan's Misaki Morota could not pull in the home punters in big numbers at the start of the weekend. The Aichi-Nagoya Games said that less than 60 percent of tickets had been snapped up for eight sports, including football, with a similar amount unsold for the closing ceremony in eight days' time. "We are not satisfied," said Satoshi Murate, secretary-general of the Games organizing committee in response to a question from AFP. "We will keep aiming for full stadiums, keep selling tickets and work to make sure people who have secured seats actually come." He said more than 90 percent of tickets were sold for the opening ceremony a week ago, but blamed no-show
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