Asian Games postponed until 2023 over Covid

Scheduled to take place in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September, the event was postponed with the hosts reeling under multiple fresh Covid-19 outbreaks

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Games 2022 have been postponed until next year as China, the host country, is once again reeling under a renewed Covid-19 threat, the governing Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said on Friday.

The games, only a few notches smaller than Summer Olympics in size, were planned to take place in the Chinese city of Hangzhou from September 12-15, but faced with a fresh outbreak of an Omicron variant, China has dedicated its best resources to beat the threat.

“Following detailed discussions with the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC), the OCA Executive Board (EB) on Friday decided to postpone the 19th Asian Games,” said OCA in a statement.

“The new dates of the 19th Asian Games will be agreed between the OCA, the COC, and the HAGOC and announced in the near future.”

The OCA said the host city was very well prepared to deliver the Games on time despite global challenges; however, the decision was taken by all the stakeholders after carefully considering the pandemic situation and the size of the Games.

“The name and the emblem of the 19th Asian Games will remain unchanged, and the OCA believes that the Games will achieve complete success through the joint efforts of all parties,” it added.

Additionally, the statement said, the OCA EB also studied the situation of the 3rd Asian Youth Games, scheduled on December 20-28 this year in Shantou, China. After discussion with the COC and the Organising Committee, the OCA EB decided that as the Asian Youth Games had already been postponed once, the Asian Youth Games Shantou 2021 will be cancelled.

“The next Asian Youth Games will therefore be held in 2025 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan,” the OCA said.

The OCA said they were deeply grateful to the Shantou Organising Committee for its great work during the preparation phase.

“We strongly believe that this effort will be beneficial to many different aspects of the development of the city, especially in the field of sport as well as for the promotion of Olympic spirit in Asia,” the OCA said.