The 2022 Asian Games has been postponed until 2023 due to rising cases of coronavirus in China, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has announced.
The Games were set to be staged in Hangzhou between 10 and 25 September. Hangzhou is just 175km away from Shanghai, which is currently in lockdown after experiencing a massive spike in cases. The OCA also announced that the Asian Youth Games, which were set to be held in Shantou, China in December have been cancelled altogether. The Youth Games had already been postponed once and will next be held in Uzbekistan in 2025.
In a statement, the OCA said: "Following detailed discussions with the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC), the OCA Executive Board (EB) today decided to postpone the 19th Asian Games, which were scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, from 10 to 25 September 2022.
"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. HAGOC has been very well prepared to deliver the Games on time despite global challenges.
"However, the above 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."
China staged the Winter Olympics in February and the Paralympics in March under strict restrictions in Beijing, with athletes staying in bio-bubbles.
Shanghai's vice major Wu Qing said on Friday the city had brought the latest outbreak under control. "Currently, our city's epidemic prevention and control situation is steadily improving, and the epidemic has come under effective control," he said.
