Asiad fans irked by e-ticket system

The ticketing system at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, which officially opens Friday, has already caused a headache for some fans and hampered efforts for the event to be tech-friendly.

The inconveniences came before Sunday’s preliminary match between South Korea and Malaysia at Incheon Munhak Stadium. Some people had to wait 30 minutes to enter the stadium because organizers had to issue printed tickets to all attendees, even those who had e-tickets that they had bought online and printed at home.

Most movie theaters and theme parks in Korea allow people in after their e-ticket is scanned.

Some annoyed fans complained, saying the old-fashion system was inappropriate for an international event. To quell the situation, the staff gave them hand-written admission tickets.

Some 20,000 people attended the match. The problems were blamed on the organizers as well as SK Telecom, which is handling IT for the event.