Hangzhou Asian Games postponed due to Covid surge in China

The Asian Games 2022, which were scheduled to happen in Hangzhou in September, have been indefinitely postponed due to China’s pandemic scenario. The new dates will be announced later, according to a statement on the Olympic Council of Asia’s website.

China is dealing with a resurgence of coronavirus cases, which is said to be the country’s largest Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic’s inception.

The postponement of the tournament will also result in a revenue loss for the organisers, particularly in terms of gate revenue. It is also unknown whether the tournament will allow spectators back into the stadium next year. Furthermore, even the event’s sponsors will suffer as a result of this.

The statement 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. 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 19th Asian Games’ postponement will have an impact on the 2024 Paris Olympic cycle, which has already been cut short due to the pandemic-forced postponement of the Tokyo Olympics from 2020 to 2021.

The new dates will most probably be difficult to implement because the 2023 sports calendar is also jam-packed with Olympic qualifiers for all sports, with the Paris Games taking place the following year.

The host city of Hangzhou is close to the country’s largest city, Shanghai, which has been under lockdown for several weeks as a portion of the country’s response to the resurgence of cases. Furthermore, the OCA EB decided to cancel the 3rd Asian Youth Games, which were planned for December 20-28, this year in Shantou, China.

In February, the country hosted the Beijing Winter Olympics in a Covid-secure bubble.