Asian Beach Games Postponed to 2021

(ATR) The 6th Asian Beach Games is the latest 2020 event to be pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Olympic Council of Asia announced on Monday the event in Sanya, China will now begin on April 2, 2021 and run through April 10. The Games were originally scheduled to run from Nov. 28 to Dec. 6, 2020.

"The decision taken jointly in collaboration with Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and the Sanya Asian Beach Games Organizing Committee (SABGOC) will ensure the safety of the athletes and officials as well as the spectators in these unprecedented times of COVID 19 pandemic," an OCA statement said.

Taking a cue from Tokyo 2020, the 6th Asian Beach Games Sanya 2020 and the logo of the Games will remain the same despite the move to 2021.

The OCA says "the sports entry as well as other technical details will be readjusted in collaboration with SABGOC and announced shortly".

More than 2,000 athletes from 45 NOCs are expected to compete in 17 sports, 19 disciplines and 93 events at four venue clusters.

The decision to reschedule comes almost exactly a month after the OCA announced that discussions were underway to change the dates.

The OCA says it "is extremely positive that the games with the joint efforts of all the involved parties will be a great success".

Sanya, a resort city on the tropical Hainan Island province in Southern China, is the second Chinese host for the Asian Beach Games after Haiyang in 2012. Da Nang, Vietnam hosted the last edition of the Games in 2016.

Written by Gerard Farek

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