Assuming it’ll go forward as scheduled, China will host 23 nations for the Asian Cup, the continent’s showpiece soccer championship, in June and July subsequent 12 months.
Then, within the following month, a sequence of main worldwide occasions will get underway, kick-starting the countdown to the Paris Olympics. In August, athletics, swimming, crusing, archery and badminton, most definitely, can have their world championships. That’ll be adopted by an equally packed September, when the world championships for basketball, canoeing, gymnastics, boxing and wrestling (for whom, the worlds will double up because the Olympic qualifiers) will happen.
As it tries to discover a slot for the postponed Hangzhou Asian Games, which have been scheduled to be held from September 10 to 25, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is observing a slender window the place no main championships are already scheduled to conduct its flagship occasion.
The continental physique introduced on Friday that although the organisers have been ‘well prepared’ to host the Asian Games, the choice to postpone it was taken ‘considering the pandemic situation and size of the Games.’ More than 11,000 athletes from 44 nations have been set to compete in 40 sports activities, making the Asian Games almost as massive because the Olympics, by way of dimension.
But whereas pushing again the occasion, the OCA didn’t reveal when the rescheduled Games shall be held. “The new dates of the 19th Asian Games will be agreed between the OCA, the COC (Chinese Olympic Committee) and the HAGOC (Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee) and announced in the near future,” the continental physique mentioned in an announcement.
‘Surprised’
Although it was being speculated for some time, the choice took many unexpectedly. While the organisers have been presenting their case to the OCA in Tashkent, an Asian Games check occasion for rowing, one of many many held in the previous few weeks, was reaching its conclusion in Hangzhou. In Bangkok, the hockey qualifiers bought underway and in New Delhi, the committee that displays preparations of India’s Olympic athletes was in the course of its assembly through which Asian Games have been on the agenda when the information flashed.
“The decision is surprising,” Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra mentioned. “I am not happy with it especially since the fresh dates or at least tentative month have not been declared. The lack of clarity affects the planning and preparation of the athletes.”
The postponement comes regardless of the OCA vehemently denying experiences suggesting the identical in the previous few days and with organisers pressed forward with their preparations to host the occasion in a strict bio bubble.
But within the backdrop of rising Covid-19 instances in China, a delay appeared inevitable. China, the place the virus emerged in late 2019, is experiencing its greatest Covid-19 outbreak. The Games’ host metropolis started mass testing its 10 million residents final week to maintain omicron instances in examine. A brief practice experience away from Hangzhou, Shanghai has been below a strict lockdown for greater than a month and China’s capital Beijing, too, has begun tightening its Covid curbs.
Logistical nightmare
With China but to open its borders for worldwide guests, in its dogged pursuit of a zero-Covid coverage, the nation has been pressured to cancel or postpone a number of sporting occasions. Moments after the Asian Games have been postponed, the World University Games, which have been to be held in Chengdu, too have been pushed again to 2023 whereas the Shantou Youth Asian Games have been cancelled altogether. And though they’re nonetheless a 12 months away, China’s strict border management and zero-Covid coverage have solid a shadow on the Asian Cup.
Despite these setbacks, officers have recommended that the Asian Games organisers are contemplating the choice of staging the video games throughout the identical window subsequent 12 months. However, slotting the mega occasion in an already packed calendar can show to be a logistical nightmare.
When the Tokyo Olympics have been pushed again by a 12 months, from July-August 2020 to July-August 2021, a number of sports activities, together with badminton and swimming, have been pressured to reschedule their world championships. Whether the Asian Games organisers can persuade the worldwide federations to do the identical as soon as once more stays to be seen provided that it might have a domino impact on the Olympic qualification system.
Reducing workload
But not all shall be disillusioned. For some Indian athletes, the postponement could possibly be a blessing in disguise, because it provides them room to relaxation in a busy 12 months. In regular circumstances, athletes in some sports activities, like monitor and subject, have been going through eventualities the place they’d must compete in three back-to-back main championships: the World Championships (July 15 to 24), the Commonwealth Games (July 28 to August 8), after which the Asian Games. The postponement is prone to cut back their workload.
It’ll be the identical for the hockey gamers. To give attention to the Asian Games, the place an Olympic berth is at stake, Hockey India had determined to ship second-string sides for the Commonwealth Games. Now, with the Asiad out of the image, Hockey India has a call to make: whether or not to disband the India ‘A’ groups; stick to them for the CWG; or embrace a number of senior gamers within the combine. One of the numerous uncertainties the postponement has prompted.