Asian Games postponed: Hong Kong Sevens sympathises, but will cyclist Sarah Lee still make it in 2023?

‘Some of the older riders may not be able to stay on for that long,’ says head of city’s cycling body, with Games delayed as China battles Covid-19 outbreak

Meeting to agree date change attended by head of Hong Kong Olympic Committee, who says some nations were concerned about difficulties in travelling to China

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The Hong Kong men’s rugby sevens team celebrate their gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:51pm, 6 May 2022Updated: 8:01pm, 6 May 2022

Hong Kong athletes and sporting bodies have been left revising their plans for the year after it was announced that the China-hosted 2022 Asian Games would be postponed until 2023.

Set to take place in Hangzhou from September 10 to 25, the Games were on Friday put on ice – a major development for Hong Kong’s athletes, many of whom regarded it as the biggest event of the year. The Shantou 2021 Asian Youth Games were also cancelled, with China struggling to contain a new wave of Covid-19 outbreaks.

Gold-medal contenders for Hong Kong had been expected to include cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze and the men’s rugby sevens team – in both cases aiming to repeat in Hangzhou their podium-topping performances of four years ago.

The Hong Kong Cycling Association had nominated 30 athletes to send to the Games, including Lee, who at 34 was preparing for what could be her last event of such magnitude.

The venues for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou were ready. Photo: AFP

“China is still trying to cope with the pandemic, so it is understandable that they would prefer to postpone the Games,” the association’s chairman Leung Hung-tak said.