Bangkok (AFP)

The 31st edition of the Southeast Asian Games, which was scheduled to take place in Vietnam this year, has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, possibly in 2022, one of the organizers announced Thursday.

Scheduled from November 21 to December 2, 2021, the competition was to be held in the capital Hanoi and 11 other cities in the country, including Ho Chi Minh City, placed Friday morning in confinement for two weeks.

“The 31st Southeast Asian Games will certainly not be (hosted) this year as planned in November,” said Varin Tansuphasiri, Games Council member and deputy secretary of the Thai Olympic Committee.

"Vietnam wants to postpone the Games until next year, in 2022" he added.

This postponement is due to the pandemic and Vietnam offers to host these Games in April or May of next year, he said.

Vietnam is currently experiencing its strongest epidemic peak since the appearance of the virus, with around a thousand new cases per day.

In an attempt to curb the virus, road travel between Hanoi and 14 cities across the country has been banned.

The country has so far totaled nearly 23,500 cases, against 3,000 only at the end of April, and 105 deaths.

Although that number is low compared to most of its Southeast Asian neighbors, Vietnam's per capita vaccination rate is the lowest in the region and among the lowest in Asia, according to a count of AFP.

Games events are due to take place in some of the worst affected provinces, including Bac Ninh and Bac Giang in the northeast of the country.

A site which is to host the badminton tournament has been transformed into a field hospital.

Vietnamese authorities have recommended "postponing the organization of the 31st Southeast Asian Games to a more appropriate time," Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang told reporters.

But it is not easy to find a good niche in the already dense 2022 sports calendar, believes Varin Tansuphasiri.

“There are already too many games next year,” he said, citing the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022 and the Commonwealth Games in July.

"There will be a bit of difficulty for Vietnam to host (the Games) in 2022".

The 31st Southeast Asian Games are expected to attract nearly 20,000 participants, including around 7,000 athletes from 11 countries in the region, according to official media.

Among the sports represented, one should find billiards and snooker, bodybuilding, chess, bowling and an ancient form of wrestling, which came from Uzbekistan and known as Kourach.

In the last edition in 2019, the Philippines, the host country, finished first with 149 gold medals and Vietnam second with 98.

Vietnam already hosted the competition in 2003.

burs-aph / dhc / axn / del / ati

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