New Delhi: The Asian Games which were scheduled to be held from September 10-25 in Hangzhou have been postponed due to the pandemic, 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,'' an official statement from OCA said.
It further said that the new dates of the 19th Asian Games will be agreed upon between the OCA, the COC, and the HAGOC and announced in the near future.
''HAGOC has been very well prepared to deliver the Games on time despite global challenges. However, the above decision was taken by all the stakeholders after carefully considering the pandemic situation and the size of the Games,'' the statement added.
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.
Additionally, the OCA EB also studied the situation of the 3rd Asian Youth Games, which was scheduled for 20-28 December this year in Shantou, China.
After discussion with the COC and the Organising Committee, the OCA EB decided that as the Asian Youth Games had already been postponed once, the Asian Youth Games Shantou 2021 will be cancelled.
The next Asian Youth Games will therefore be held in 2025 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, the OCA thanked Shantou Organising Committee for its great work during the preparation phase adding, ''We strongly believe that this effort will be beneficial to many different aspects of the development of the city, especially in the field of sport as well as for the promotion of Olympic spirit in Asia.''
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