Hangzhou Asiad postponed amid Covid surge in China
BEIJING: 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. The new dates will be announced in near future.
An air of uncertainty was 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) today decided to postpone the 19th Asian Games,” the OCA said in a statement, posted on its website. “The new dates will be agreed between the OCA, the COC and the HAGOC and announced in the near future,” the statement added.
The OCA said the HAGOC was well prepared to deliver the Games on time despite global challenges. However, after carefully considering the pandemic situation and the magnitude of the Games, the decision was taken by all the stakeholders.
The name and the emblem of the 19th Asian Games will remain unchanged, and the OCA believes that the Games will achieve complete success through the joint efforts of all parties.
About 11,000 athletes were to compete in 61 sporting disciplines in the Games. The development comes at a time when China is battling a record number of daily cases in Shanghai, which is only a short train ride away from Games host city Hangzhou. Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, is some 175 kilometres southwest of Shanghai. As per the latest update, Zhejiang has recorded 3124 positive cases and one death. Additionally, the 3rd Asian Youth Games, which was scheduled from December 20-28 in Shantou, China have also been cancelled.
The next Asian Youth Games will therefore be held in 2025 in
Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Indian track and field athletes and national federation officials on Friday reacted with a sense of relief on the postponement, saying now they will not need to “peak” their performance late in the season.
This season had three big events in World Championships (July 15-24) in Eugene, USA, Birmingham Commonwealth Games (July 28 to August 8) and Asian Games for which the athletes need to “peak” every time.
The postponement of the Asian Games has reduced their burden. “It’s good. How many times an athlete can peak in a year? There is CWG, World Championships and then Asian Games and the athletes need to produce peak performances. It’s difficult for them,” Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla said.
“When the Asian Games are held on new dates, our athletes can focus on that and we should win more medals than the last edition in 2018.”
Athletics is the sport which gives most medals for India in the Asian Games. Out of the overall 672 medals the country has won so far, athletics has contributed 254. Indian track and field athletes had won 20 medals (8 gold, 9 silver, 3 bronze) out of the country’s total of 70 in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair said the athletes were prepared for the Hangzhou Asian Games but the postponement should lesson their workload this season. “It is the most difficult year in my coaching career with three big events lining up. We had made plans in a very different way this year. We had athletes (like Jinson Johnson) who will compete only in Asian Games and we had others like Neeraj Chopra and Avinash Sable who will compete in CWG, World Championships and Asian Games. So, we were prepared for the Asian Games. But, now that the Asian Games are postponed, our athletes can focus on CWG and World Championships,” Nair said.
National record holder long jumper M Sreeshankar also felt that the postponement of the Asian Games will lessen his workload. “This will lessen the workload. It’s difficult to peak again and again in a short time. I can now focus on CWG and World Championships.”
Johnson, who won gold in 1500m in 2018 Asian Games, has a different view. “I am a bit disappointed. I was not competing for two years after the last Asian Games. I came back this year and won a medal in the Federation Cup (in March). So, I was looking ahead and preparing for the Asian Games,” the 31-yearold said. “I don’t know when the Hangzhou Asian Games will be held. You don’t know what will happen in future.”
Indian hockey team players have taken the deferment positively, saying it will give them additional time to prepare. India men’s hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh said they were not taken aback by the announcement. “The postponement means we will get more time to prepare for the Asian Games. We already have the experience of playing in a postponed Games (Tokyo Olympics), so we know what it takes to remain in shape. The positive part is that there are plenty of tournaments lined-up for us like the Asia Cup, away Pro League matches, Commonwealth Games and World Cup next year. The dates of the postponed Asian Games are yet to be announced, so we will get enough time to prepare our best for the Asian Games,” Sreejesh said.
The postponement also opened up the doors for members of both the senior men and women teams to participate in the Birmingham CWG, where India had earlier decided to send its reserve hockey sides due to short turnaround between the two events.