OCA announces postponement of Hangzhou’s Asian Games

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has today advised that because of the worsening Coronavirus situation in parts of China that the 19th Asian Games, scheduled to be held in the city of Hangzhou in September, will be postponed.

With China battles a rise in cases of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, the host city of Hangzhou lies less than 200 kilometres 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.

In a statement, the OCA advised that "following detailed discussions with the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC), the OCA Executive Board (today decided to postpone the 19th Asian Games, which were scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, from 10th to 25th September 2022.

“The new dates of the 19th Asian Games will be agreed between the OCA, the COC and the HAGOC and announced in the near future.”

The OCA also announced the decision to cancel the third Asian Youth Games in the same statement, adding “additionally, the OCAEB also studied the situation of the 3rd Asian Youth Games, which was scheduled on 20-28 December this year in Shantou, China. After discussion with the COC and the Organising Committee, the OCA EB decided that as the Asian Youth Games had already been postponed once, the Asian Youth Games Shantou 2021 will be cancelled. The next Asian Youth Games will therefore be held in 2025 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.”

The OCA thanked Shantou Organising Committee for its efforts of preparing for the Asian Youth Games, calling it "beneficial" to the development of the city and the promotion of Olympic spirit in Asia.

Almost all international sport has ground to a halt in China since COVID emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

This year’s Beijing Winter Olympics was an exception but it was held in a strict “closed loop” with everyone inside it, including athletes, staff, volunteers and media, taking daily COVID tests and not allowed to venture into the wider public.

The OCA praised the preparation work of the HAGOC and believes that, when staged over new dates, the Asian Games will be a "complete success through the joint efforts of all parties."

Both the name and the emblem will remain unchanged for the 19th Games.

Along with the Asian Games, China has seen the postponement of another multi-sport event today. Following “extensive discussions” between the International University Sports Federation (FISU), the Chengdu 2021 Organising Committee and other stakeholders, FISU said a decision has been taken to postpone the World University Games until 2023.

Chengdu’s Games had initially been scheduled for the summer of 2021, but were rescheduled for 26th June to 7th July this year following the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Images: The logo for the 19th Asian Games, which will remain unchanged when the event is held on dates yet to be announced (top) and the main Stadium at Hangzhou's Olympic and International Expo Centre (below).