Asian Games in Hangzhou will be ‘frugal’, China says, in country’s biggest sport event since Covid-19

Organisers say most venues have been used before and will be used after the event finishes

The games are the largest event of their kind to be held in China since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic

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Hangzhou is preparing to host the Asian Games. Photo: Mandy Zuo

Published: 9:16pm, 16 Sep 2023Updated: 9:30pm, 16 Sep 2023

China has vowed to host a frugal and cost-effective Asian Games as it started the one-week countdown to its biggest sports event since the Covid pandemic.

The host city, Hangzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, will receive over 12,000 athletes and has prepared 56 competition venues for the event, according to local authorities.

Xu Bin, deputy director of the event’s publicity department, said the games would be “as thrifty as possible”.

Some 44 of the venues were upgraded from existing ones, and most of them will be put in commercial use after the games, he told reporters on Saturday.

The event was originally scheduled to take place last year but was postponed for a year due to China’s stringent Covid controls, which were then abruptly reversed.

The Games are one of the world’s biggest multi-sport events, and the most important event of their kind to take place in China since the lifting of Covid restrictions.