Asiad put off after Covid surge in China
Tashkent/ Beijing, May 6: The Hangzhou Asian Games, which were scheduled to take place from September 10 to 25, were on Friday postponed indefinitely amid a recent surge in
Covid-19 cases in China, a development that was on expected lines and evoked mixed reactions from the Indian athletes. The new dates will be announced in near future but since the
2024 is Olympic year, the Asian Games could be rescheduled for 2023 when the pandemic situation is under control.
An air of uncertainty had been hovering over the 19th edition of the multi-sports Games ever since Shanghai came under a fresh wave of the pandemic, forcing a lockdown in the city.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Executive Board met in Tashkent on Friday to discuss the situation and felt postponing the Games was the best decision under the circumstances.
“Following detailed discussions with the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC), the OCA Executive Board (EB) on Friday decided to postpone the 19th Asian Games, which were scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, from 10 to 25 September 2022,” the OCA said in a statement, posted on its website.
About 11,000 athletes were to compete in 61 sporting disciplines in the Games.
It’s first multi-sport bigticket event that has been postponed after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the Tokyo Olympic Games organisers to delay quadrennial event by a year to 2021.
“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 statement added.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said the postponement of the Games is “certainly a sort of setback” for some athletes.
“The postponement of any big event or Games is a disappointment for the athletes. They become older by some months or one year whatever is the case when the Games are rescheduled,” IOA Secretary
General Rajeev Mehta said.
“Many of our athletes had already started training and preparations for the Asian Games, and IOA feels for them. The postponement was on expected lines due to Covid-19 but this was not in our hands.”
Indian men’s hockey team goalkeeper P. R. Sreejesh said the delay in the Games is disappointing but it gives them more time to prepare.
The winners of both the men’s and women’s hockey events will earn direct entry into the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s a disappointment but somewhere down the line we were expecting it considering the situation in China. But we want to look at it from a positive point of view because we will get more time to prepare for the Asian Games,” Sreejesh said.