Postponed Asian Games now to be held from 23 September to 8 October 2023, says OCA

New Delhi: The Asian Games, which were postponed, will now be held from September 23 to October 8, 2023, as per the announcement by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The event was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in China. It was supposed to take place from September 10 to 25 in 2022 but got postponed by almost a year.

The event will be held in Hangzhou, China, which is less than 200 km away from Shanghai, the city which was fighting a COVID-19 outbreak. The city of Shanghai faced months-long lockdowns as Communist Party’s zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19. According to a report by Olympics.com, the organisers confirmed that the construction of all venues and facilities for the Games had been completed in April 2022.

In the announcement, the OCA said that the new dates have been chosen to avoid “conflict with other major international sporting events.” The Asian Games is likely to feature more than 10,000 athletes.

Not just the Asian Games, the COVID-19 outbreak in China affected the other sporting events as well. The 2022 Winter Olympics in the capital city Beijing, were held under a strict bio-bubble to keep COVID in February. In May, OCA also announced the cancellation of the third edition of the Asian Youth Games, scheduled to be held in Shantou in December. The World University Games 2021, which were supposed to be held from June 26 to July 27 in Chengdu this year, have also been postponed to 2023.

Asian Games have always been a prosperous event for India. In the last games, held in 2018 in Indonesia, India won 69 medals including 15 gold, 24 silver and 30 bronze.