The Hangzhou Asian Games, scheduled to be held in September, have been postponed four months before the opening. With the recent rapid spread of COVID-19 in China, plans to hold it next year are being considered.
Correspondent Kim Ji-sung from Beijing.
The Asian Olympic Council has announced the postponement of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.
It has been discussed with the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee, and it is said that “the decision was made in consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the size of the event.”
Originally, the Hangzhou Asian Games was scheduled to be held from September 10 to 25, with over 11,000 athletes participating, nearly four times the number of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The new competition period will be announced soon, but plans to hold it next year are being discussed.
[중국 CCTV 방송 : 제19회 아시안게임 개최를 연기하고, 구체적인 날짜는 정해서 발표하기로 했습니다.]
Until last February, China held a large-scale commemorative event and was confident that it would be a success, but it is interpreted that it changed its position following the recent spread of Corona 19.
Hangzhou is 180 km away from Shanghai, where the lockdown has been going on for 40 days, and more than 1,400 cumulative infections have been reported in Zhejiang Province, where Hangzhou belongs.
President Xi Jinping’s emphasis on adherence to a strong quarantine policy, the so-called ‘zero corona’, is also interpreted as a background to the postponement of the Games.
This is the first time that the Asian Summer Games have been postponed since the first tournament in 1951, and there is concern that it will affect the skills of the players who have been sweating while looking forward to September of this year.
