The upcoming edition of the Asian Beach Games that was set to take place in China, has been postponed for a second time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sanya was supposed to be the host city for the tournament. The Olympic Council of Asia announced the postponement of the event on December 30.
The Games were originally scheduled for November 28 to December 6, but the hosts pushed the games to April 2021 due to the pandemic. Earlier China had only given permission for trials for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. After the latest delay in Beach games, the hosts will declare new schedule after consulting the stakeholders.
In an official statement, the governing body of the events said, “The OCA consulted all members of the Executive Board to seek their approval of the move to postpone, and it was met with unanimous agreement. The decision aims at serving the common interests of all related National Olympic Committees and ensuring the safety and health of the athletes and all relevant participants.”
Earlier this year, the OCA announced the event had been moved to 2021 after the Chinese Government banned the majority of international sports events in 2020 in response to the global health crisis. The sixth edition of the Asian Beach Games is expecting to have more than 2000 athletes from more than 40 countries to compete across 19 events.