According to Chinese official media, the Asian Games, which were scheduled to take place in Hangzhou from September 10 to 25, have been postponed by china owing to the epidemic. So yet, no replacement date has been offered.
The Decision
The decision comes as China, where the virus first appeared in late 2019, is in the midst of its largest Covid-19 epidemic. In Shanghai, which has been under lockdown for more than a month, the country is dealing with many daily cases. Shanghai is only 175kms away from Hangzhou, where widespread Covid-19 testing began last week to watch the growing number of omicron cases. Beijing, China’s capital, has also started to tighten its Covid restrictions in recent days.
Until last week, the organisers and the Asian Olympic Council claimed that the Asian Games, which are second only to the Olympics in terms of magnitude, would place as planned in September. Narinder Batra, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president, announced earlier this week that they had got confirmation from a continental organisation.
The organisers had prepared for a stringent bio-bubble, similar to the one imposed during the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year. They had successfully rehearsed’ it during a test event for the Asian Games last week.
However, the Games were postponed after a meeting of the OCA’s executive committee. The OCA and the Asian Games organisers did not immediately announce alternative dates for the Games, owing to a busy international schedule in2023, including Olympic qualification events for all sports.
The decision was made because of the current pandemic scenario in China and the size of the Games,’ according to the OCA. Covid-19 breakouts have been reported in several regions, including Shanghai, which closed for weeks, and Beijing, presently facing several Covid-19-containing limitations.
“The OCA, the COC, and the HAGOC will agree on new dates for the 19th Asian Games and announce them soon,” the OCA stated. “Despite global problems, the HAGOC (Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee) has been extremely well prepared to deliver the Games on schedule. All parties, however, reached the choice above after carefully assessing the pandemic scenario and the scale of the Games. The 19th Asian Games’ name and the symbol will stay intact, and the OCA thinks the Games will be a perfect success thanks to everyone’s efforts.”
This would have been China’s third Asian Games, following the 1990 Beijing Games and the 2010 Guangzhou Games.Â
Published By –Supreeti Ghosh
