KUALA
LUMPUR, Malaysia —
China has withdrawn as the 2023
Asian Cup host due to the coronavirus, football officials said Saturday, with
Beijing’s strict zero-COVID strategy dealing another blow to the country’s
sporting ambitions.
اضافة اعلان
Authorities in China are pursuing a strategy of
stamping out the virus entirely, which includes rapid lockdowns and mass
testing, and millions in Shanghai have faced onerous restrictions for more than
a month.
But the measures — now rare globally, as most
countries shift to living with
COVID — have made hosting sporting events a
major challenge.
The Olympic-sized Asian Games, due to be staged in
September in Hangzhou, had already been postponed last week, and on Saturday
the
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said China would not host the Asian Cup.
Chinese football officials had informed the
governing body that they would not be able to host the 24-team competition,
which was to be staged in 10 cities in June and July next year.
No new host nation was named, with the AFC saying
that next steps related to the tournament would be announced in due course.
“The AFC acknowledges the exceptional circumstances
caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the relinquishment by (China) of
its hosting rights,” the governing body said in a statement.
Those involved in organizing the tournament had made
“this very difficult but necessary decision in the collective interests of” the
tournament, it added.
The Asian Cup is staged every four years.
Qatar won
the last edition in 2019.
It would have been the second time that China had staged the
Asian Cup. They hosted it in 2004, when they lost 3–1 to Japan in the final.
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