The 16th World Dragon Boat Racing Championships will be held in Pattaya, Thailand on 7-13 August 2023.
Dragon boat racers contend in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. (Picture: Atmkhk through Wikimedia Commons)
The world’s leading dragon boat competitors will ditch Hong Kong in favour of Thailand next year due to the previous’s strict coronavirus guidelines, organisers stated on Saturday.
Hong Kong is attempting to reboot its pandemic-hit sports scene even as it continues to follow a loose variation of China’s zero-Covid method, which quashes break outs with travel curbs and quarantine.
The 2023 World Dragon Boat Racing Champions ended up being the most recent worldwide sports occasion to desert the Chinese city, according to the Hong Kong China Dragon Boat Association.
” Hong Kong’s present quarantine and seclusion plans for visitors are still more strict than that of other nations,” the group composed on its Facebook page.
The occasion arranged for next August will rather be kept in Pattaya, the International Dragon Boat Federation validated.
The news comes a day after the Hong Kong Marathon and the Oxfam Trailwalker occasions independently revealed their cancellation.
Marathon organisers stated they had actually not gotten federal government approval with simply 2 months left prior to the race, which did not leave sufficient time for preparations.
In 2015’s marathon was kept in October after a months-long hold-up and included no abroad rivals, while in 2020 the occasion was cancelled by the federal government with 2 weeks’ notification.
Organisers of the Oxfam Trailwalker likewise stated their occasion might not be held although they provided to top the variety of individuals at 1,600.
” The federal government thinks that there stays a a great deal of individuals associated with the occasion,” organisers stated on Facebook.
Previously this month, Hong Kong’s leading badminton competition was likewise cancelled after the federal government firmly insisted that abroad gamers be kept in a seclusion bubble.
Hong Kong authorities state some foreign rivals have actually consented to coronavirus limitations, pointing out the Hong Kong Masters snooker competition next month and the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens in November.
Those occasions will be run utilizing a Beijing Olympics-style “closed loop” system, in which abroad gamers are kept in seclusion from the neighborhood, limited to hotels and sports locations.
The generally rowdy fans at the Rugby Sevens will be enabled to consume however not consume in the stands, Hong Kong’s sports commissioner has actually stated.
On Friday, Hong Kong authorities okayed to a yearly cross-harbour swimming race, though just 1,500 individuals will be enabled to sign up with.
