Australia has confirmed they will not be sending any athletes to compete in the Asian Games this September over COVID-19 fears.
The event is scheduled to take place September 10-25 in Hangzhou, China, which is less than 200 km from Shanghai.
“No athletes from Australian sports will take part,” an Australian Olympic Committee spokesperson said in a statement.
Shanghai is currently dealing with a large COVID-19 outbreak. Organizers of the Asian Games said they are working on a virus control plan, perhaps similar to Beijing’s “closed loop” system used for the Winter Olympics.
This would be the third time China has hosted the Asian Games, after Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010.