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The 19th edition of the Asian Games, which was initially scheduled to be held from September 10 to 25 2022 in east China’s Hangzhou, will be postponed according to the latest announcement from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on Friday, May 6.
"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 by the Chinese state media.
Although the state media is yet to provide an official reason for the postponement, the news comes after a surge of Covid-19 cases were reported in the country. The official statement is also yet to be released by the Games' organisers.
The dates for the postponed Asian event are yet to be announced by the Asian Olympic Council.
The host city of Hangzhou is near the country's biggest city, Shanghai, which is under lockdown as part of the ruling Communist Party's zero-tolerance approach to the virus. Organisers said last month that Hangzhou, a city of 12 million in eastern China, had finished constructing some 56 competition venues for the Asian Games and Asian Para Games, which were initially to be held in September.
The plan was to hold the Asian Games under a virus control plan that 'was learned from the successful experience of the Beijing Winter Olympics,' which was in February in a Covid-secure bubble.
The event is slated to host all 45 National Olympic Committees that are members of the OCA. The OCA also announced plans to invite athletes from countries from Oceania to compete in selected events, which would mark their first participation in the Summer Asian Games, having participated in the 2017 Asian Winter Games for the first time. Australia and New Zealand decided not to send athletes this time around due to the threat of the Covid pandemic.
The last Asian Games were held in Jakarta, Indonesia. China led the medal tally for the tenth straight time. Six world, 18 Asian, and 86 Asian Games records were broken during the Games, while Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee was announced as the most valuable player.
It was also India's best-ever medal haul at the Asian Games, winning a massive 69 medals — 15 gold, 24 silver, and 30 bronze — to surpass the medal count from the 2010 Games (65) in Guangzhou, China.
