2022 Hangzhou Asian Games Postponed, Report Chinese State Media

The 2022 Asian Games scheduled to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou are set to be postponed according to Chinese state media.

China Central Television reported on Friday that the decision was announced by the director-general of the Olympic Council of Asia but no reasons were given.

The Games have likely been postponed as a part of China's zero tolerance to COVID-19 policy. The communist country is grappling with a fourth wave of the pandemic and has imposed harsh restrictions in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Zhengzhou.

The Hangzhou Asian Games were set to be held from September 10 to 25, 2022 with 61 disciplines in 42 sports. The OCA will announce a new set of dates at a later time.

The Asian Games are the second sporting event to be postponed in China after the Chengdu FISU World University Games have been reportedly postponed for a second time. Originally scheduled to be held in August 2021, the University Games were postponed to June 2022 last year.

The Hangzhou Asian Games will also mark the return of cricket to the Asian Games with men's and women's matches being played in a T20 format.

The Games also mark debut of eSports with eight medal events for games like Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Dream of the Three Kingdoms 2, FIFA, Hearthstone, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Street Fighter V.