Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 postponed to 2023

The Asian Games 2022, scheduled to be held from September 10-25 in Hangzhou, China, have been postponed to 2023.

The Asian Games organizers confirmed the postponement in a statement, but no reason was explicitly stated. The decision might have been taken due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in China.

Later, the acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia, Randhir Singh, told news agencies that the Asian Games will be postponed until 2023.

China has been racing to extinguish its largest outbreak of COVID-19 since the early days of the pandemic.

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A statement on the Asian Games 2022 website said:

"The Olympic Council of Asia has announced that the 19th Asian Games, originally scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China from September 10 to 25, 2022, will be postponed."

The new dates for the sporting contest will be announced at a later date, the statement added.

Asian Games 2022 village, stadiums completed and ready

China is on the back of a successful experience of conducting the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Most international sporting events have been shelved in China since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Asian Games 2022 organizers said the Games were supposed to be held under a 'virus control plan', including a bio-secure bubble, that was in place for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The organizers added that 56 competition venues for the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games have been completed.

Indian Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had earlier said that a call on India's participation in the Asian Games would be taken after China's assessment of the COVID-19 situation.

Thakur added that India's participation was also dependent on China's readiness to host the continental event amid the rising coronavirus cases.

"All other participating nations are discussing and at some point India will also take a decision but before that the host nation should make it clear what are they thinking and how much prepared they are," Thakur had said.

In the previous edition of the Asian Games in 2018, India finished eighth with a total of 69 medals, including 15 gold medals.