MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2022) The 2022 Asian Games, which were set to take place from September 10 - 25 in Hangzhou, China's Zhejiang province, have been postponed, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said on Friday.
"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. 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 said in a statement.
The statement added that the decision "was taken by all the stakeholders after carefully considering the pandemic situation and the size of the Games."
China has been facing a new surge in COVID-19 cases since early March, prompting Beijing to enforce lockdowns in several regions in pursuance of its stringent zero-COVID policy.
In April, the Chinese National Health Commission said that the situation in Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guangdong, Fujian and Liaoning provinces have generally stabilized. At the same time, the situation in Shanghai, which has seen the largest lockdown in two years, remains difficult, with the risk of spread of the disease among the population still high.
