Hangzhou: The Asian Games 2022, which were scheduled to take place in September, had been postponed indefinitely, according to organizers, as China confronts a recurrence of covid-19 cases.
Although no reason was offered for the delay, China is hurrying to put an end to its greatest Covid-19 epidemic since the pandemic began.
“The Olympic Council of Asia has announced that the 19th Asian Games, originally scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China from September 10 to 25, 2022, will be postponed,” said a statement on the official Games website, first posted on the Chinese state media.
The new dates for the sporting contest “will be announced at a later date”, the statement added.
#BREAKING Asian Games 2022 postponed: Chinese state media pic.twitter.com/ALWriYqes6
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 6, 2022
Last month, however, organisers announced that Hangzhou, a 12-million-strong metropolis in eastern China, had completed the construction of 56 competition sites for the Asian Games and Asian Para Games.
They said at the time that the games will be hosted under a virus-control framework that “learns from the successful experience” of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which took place in a Covid-secure bubble in February.
