• Asian Games to be held in China in 2023 following COVID Postponement

    Sports
    Asian Games to be held in China in 2023 following COVID Postponement







    Digital Desk: Organisers announced
    on Tuesday that China will host the 2022 Asian Games in 2023, delaying the
    tournament from Hangzhou due to Covid. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)
    announced that the 2023 Games will now take place in Hangzhou from September 23
    to October 8 of that year.



     



    The event was initially slated to
    take place in September of this year, but organisers postponed it in May as
    China attempted to quell a significant Covid comeback in a number of regions of
    the country. Shanghai, the largest metropolis in the nation, was placed under a
    months-long lockdown earlier this year as part of the Communist Party's
    zero-tolerance policy against the virus. Hangzhou is fewer than 200 kilometres
    (120 miles) from Shanghai.



    The revised dates were decided,
    according to the OCA on Tuesday, to "prevent clash with other significant
    international sporting events."



     



    Typically, more than 10,000 competitors from the region
    compete in the Asian Games.



    China is the last big economy devoted to stopping the
    internal spread of the virus through rigorous travel restrictions, widespread
    testing, and lockdowns.



    The world's most populous country, however, has had to
    cancel or postpone practically all events since the pandemic began, with the
    exception of this year's Winter Olympics in Beijing. This has harmed the
    country's worldwide athletic goals.



    The World University Games, which were originally slated to
    start in Chengdu in June but were already postponed from the previous year,
    have now been delayed once more until 2023.