Asian Games 2022 to be held in Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8 in 2023

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has announced the new dates for Asian Games 2022. The prestigious continental event will now be held in Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8 in 2023.

The Asian Games were supposed to be held in September this year. However, the event was postponed as China was in the midst of a large COVID-19 resurgence in many parts of the country.

The OCA, in a media statement, said the new dates were finalized after intense discussions with various stakeholders.

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The sporting body added that the new dates were chosen to avoid 'a conflict with other major international sporting events'. The statement from the OCA read:

“A Task Force was created by the EB to finalize the new dates for the Games, which over the last two months held various discussions with the Chinese Olympic Committee, Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee and other stakeholders to find a window for the Games which did not conflict with other major international sporting events. The recommended dates by the Task Force were duly approved by OCA EB."

Asian Games typically attracts a high number of athletes

Hangzhou is less than 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Shanghai. The biggest city in the country endured a months-long lockdown earlier this year as part of the ruling Communist Party's zero-tolerance approach to the COVID-19 virus.

The Games typically attract over 10,000 athletes from across the region. China is the last major economy committed to stamping out the domestic spread of the virus through harsh lockdowns, mass testing and strict controls on international travel.

This approach has hurt the country's international sporting ambitions, with the world's most populous nation canceling or postponing almost all events since the start of the pandemic, with the exception of this year's Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The World University Games, scheduled to begin in June in Chengdu and already delayed from last year, have also been postponed again until 2023.