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Olympic Council of Asia confirmed that the Asian games 2022are delayed because of the spread of the Omicron variant in China.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said on Friday the Asian games 2022, scheduled for September, were being delayed because of concerns over the spreading Omicron variant. China is racing to contain its largest outbreak since the early days of the pandemic.
“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 website. The new dates for the sporting contest “will be announced at a later date”, it added.
The host city of Hangzhou lies less than 200km (120 miles) from the country’s biggest city, Shanghai, which has endured a weeks-long lockdown as part of the ruling Communist Party’s zero-tolerance approach to the virus.
The OCA statement said local organisers were “very well prepared to deliver the games on time despite the global challenges. However, the decision was taken by all the stakeholders after carefully considering the pandemic situation and the size of the games.”
Organisers said last month that Hangzhou, a city of 12 million in eastern China, had finished constructing 56 competition venues for the Asian Games and Asian Para Games.
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