The Asian Games that were scheduled to begin on September 10th, later this year in China's Hangzhou have been postponed due to the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China, the Olympic Council of Asia announced. No new date has been announced by the OCA committee.
Hangzhou is less than 200 km away from China's biggest city Shanghai, which has been registering a record number of Covid-19 cases in the past few weeks. The city is currently under a severe lockdown due to the outbreak.
Hangzhou would have become the 3rd city to host the Asian Games after Beijing and Guangzhou.
The organisers had last week rehearsed the strict bio-bubble in a test event for the Asian Games. However, OCA decided to postpone the games in its recently held executive meeting. The organisers had finished constructing 56 competition venues.
Further, the emblem and the name of the 19th Asian Games will remain unchanged, the OCA said adding that the games will achieve success through the joint efforts of all the parties.
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