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Preparations for the sixth Asian Beach Games, that will be held in Sanya, Hainan province at the end of this year, are in full swing according to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and Chinese sports authorities, writes Mai Al Khatib-Camille.
The OCA has been in regular contact with the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and the organising committee of the Sanya Asian Beach Games since the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in Wuhan, central China. As of Sunday, the OCA was informed that Sanya city is now officially free of Covid-19 and that its “full steam ahead”.
Husain Al-Musallam, OCA director general, said: “This is encouraging news for the OCA, for our 45 National Olympic Committees and, of course, for the people of Sanya city and Hainan province.
“We have been coordinating very closely for several weeks with the Chinese Olympic Committee and the local organising committee and we are delighted to hear that Sanya is now free of the coronavirus, with no cases.
“We would like to praise and congratulate the central government, the provincial government and the municipal government for the way they have contained and controlled Covid-19 since the outbreak.
“As far as the OCA is concerned, it is now full steam ahead. We will continue to support our partners in China and work shoulder to shoulder in the coming weeks and months.”
COC president, Gou Zhongwen, also sent a letter to OCA president Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, stating the Games would not be delayed due to the epidemic.
The COC reported that, of the 6,328 people in Hainan province who had been in close contact with those infected, 6,143 had been released from the medical observation and 185 people were still under medical observation.
Sanya has reported no new confirmed cases for 25 consecutive days. As of March 8, Sanya had 54 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with one death and 53 discharged cases.
The Games will be held in the tropical resort city on southern Hainan Island from November 28 to December 6, 2020.
While the Asian Beach Games will go ahead as planned, other sporting events might not.
For example, the scale of the outbreak in Japan saw senior International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound describe the disease as “the new war” threatening Tokyo 2020 and he warned that the Olympic Games may have to be cancelled if the virus was still around by May.
However, the Japanese government is insisting that Pound’s comments are not the IOC’s official stance and athletes have been told to keep training for the Olympics. Training for around 80,000 volunteers for the Olympic Games has been delayed for at least two months- it was due to begin on February 22.
