China postpones Asian Games 2022 indefinitely amid COVID surge

The Asian Games 2022 was to take place in Hangzhou in September. However, with the COVID surge in the country, the OCA has decided to postpone the Games indefinitely.

In a massive development in the sporting world, the 2022 Asian Games has been postponed indefinitely over COVID fears. The Games was scheduled to be held in Hangzhou from September 10-25. However, the surge in the COVID cases in the country has forced the organisers to think otherwise, as the country enters yet another lockdown.

The new dates for the event are yet to be announced. On Friday, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) had an executive board meeting in Tashkent. While the current situation and the feasibility of conducting the event were discussed, it was decided that the safest option would be to postpone the event for now.

"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," read a statement from OCA.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that the name and emblem of the event would remain unchanged. This edition of the AG was supposed to be the 19th edition of the prestigious Asian tournament. It was supposed to witness over 11,000 athletes competing across 61 sporting categories. Besides, Asian Youth Games to be held in Shantou in December has also been called off.

China is witnessing a heavy surge in the COVID cases currently. Shanghai has reported a record number of daily cases, which happens to be a short ride from Hangzhou. Hangzhou is the capital of the Zhejiang province and is 175 km southwest of Shanghai, while the host city currently has 3,124 positive cases, along with a death.