KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — The 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China will go on as planned from Sept 10-25, said Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria.

He said this was based on feedback received from the organisers and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) recently, adding that both parties denied that the Asiad would be postponed to next year.

"They (the organisers and OCA) denied rumours that the Asian Games would be postponed or cancelled. So, at the moment, it will proceed as planned,” he told a media conference after launching the Malaysian contingent’s official attire here today.

He was commenting on a report by an international media agency claiming that the Asian Games 2022 might be postponed following an increase in Covid-19 cases in Shanghai, which is situated less than 200 kilometres (km) from Hangzhou.

Shanghai has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years and has virtually locked all of its 25 million people into their homes for weeks following rigid movement controls that have been enforced.

Meanwhile, Mohamad Norza said that 864 athletes and officials will take part in the Hanoi SEA Games in Vietnam from May 12-23 compared to the total of 883 announced previously.

A total of 589 of them are athletes, comprising 364 men and 225 women. Of the 275 officials, 222 are men and 53 are women.

The reduced number of national athletes bound for Vietnam, said Mohamad Norza, is because some have been dropped due to injuries, including the likes of Luqmanul Hakim Khairul Akmal (men’s athletics, 400m); Tan Ing Yueh (women’s artistic gymnastics); Natasha Ezzra Abu Bakar (women’s fencing). — Bernama