The Asian Games in China have been postponed due to the spread of COVID-19
Key Takeaways:
- The Asian Games in China will be postponed this year, according to the Olympic Council of Asia, due to concerns over the development of the COVID-19 Omicron strain in the country.
The Olympic Council of Asia announced Friday that this year's Asian Games in China would be postponed because of concerns over the spread of the Omicron strain of COVID-19 in the country, less than 3 months after Beijing hosted the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
The OCA stated that new dates would be revealed "shortly" following discussions with local organizers and the Chinese Olympic Committee.
According to the OCA statement, local organizers, "Despite global obstacles, they were well equipped to deliver the games on time. However, after carefully assessing the pandemic situation and the games' size, all stakeholders came to a decision."
The postponement indicates growing Chinese government anxiety about infections moving quickly from Shanghai to Beijing during a crucial political year. The Communist Party, which is in power, is convening a key gathering this fall and does not want any signals of instability, pandemic or not.
Despite the economic implications and the fact that many other governments worldwide are loosening up while trying to live with the virus, China is sticking to its "zero-COVID" strategy of lockdowns and other restrictions.
In a brief statement, China's state-run television likewise announced the Asian Games' suspension but did not mention rescheduling.
The Asian Games were set to occur in Hangzhou, China, from September 10 to 25, with more than 11,000 athletes competing — for more than the normal Summer Olympics. The most recent version took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018.
According to organizers, another major multi-sport event, the World University Games, has been postponed. They were assumed to happen last year, but they've been delayed until 2022. They were scheduled to take place in Chengdu, China, from June 26 to July 7. It was estimated that 6,000 athletes were involved.
The games will be held in 2023, according to the International University Sports Federation in Switzerland, although no date or specifics have been released.
In a statement, FISU president Leonz Eder said, "Continued uncertainty over conditions has made postponement the reasonable choice."
The "closed-loop" system used for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics was expected to be used for both competitions. It separated athletes and the media from the rest of Beijing's populace and required daily tests and temperature checks for everyone participating.
With only 2,900 athletes, the Winter Olympics were a comparatively small event. Around 700 people competed in the Winter Paralympics.
Even though organizers claimed both events would go ahead just a few weeks ago, the spread of the Omicron version in Shanghai and Beijing appears to have made them difficult to hold. Much of Shanghai, a significant financial, manufacturing, and shipping center, has been shut down, causing chaos in people's lives and a blow to the economy.
According to the OCA, the Asian Youth Games, set for December 20-28 in Shantou, China, was also canceled. The youth games, which were previously postponed, will be hosted in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2025.
President Xi Jinping, the ruling Communist Party's supreme leader, is closely associated with the rigorous "zero-COVID" policy, reiterated by the party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee on Thursday.
"Relaxation will surely result in a large number of infections, critical cases, and deaths, negatively hurting economic and social growth as well as people's lives and health," the official Xinhua News Agency said in a summary of the meeting's conclusions.
"The meeting concluded that the necessity of unwaveringly sticking to the dynamic zero-COVID policy and fiercely combating any attempts to distort, criticize, or dismiss China's anti-COVID policy," the meeting concluded.
China announced 4,628 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the vast majority of which were asymptomatic and discovered in Shanghai, China's largest metropolis, roughly 177 kilometers east of Hangzhou.