Games-Hangzhou Asian Games postponed until 2023 - Olympic Council of Asia

The Asian Games scheduled to take place in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September have been postponed until 2023 because of the prevailing COVID-19 situation, Randhir Singh, the acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), told Reuters on Friday.

The Asian Games scheduled to take place in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September have been postponed until 2023 because of the prevailing COVID-19 situation, Randhir Singh, the acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), told Reuters on Friday. The 19th edition of the multi-sport Games, second in size only to the Summer Olympics, was scheduled to take place from Sept. 10-25 in the capital of Zhejiang province, some 175 kilometers southwest of Shanghai.

Question marks had been raised over the event taking place with Shanghai having recently been locked down because of a COVID-19 outbreak. The local organizing committee did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The decision to postpone the Games was taken at an OCA executive board meeting in Tashkent on Friday. Most international sporting events in China have been postponed or canceled since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the notable exception of the Winter Olympics, which went ahead in Beijing under strict health controls in February.

Hangzhou organizers said in early April that all 56 competition venues for the Games had been completed and test events were continuing as the lakeside city prepared to host more than 11,000 athletes from 44 nations and territories.