MANILA – The FIBA Asia Cup has been postponed due to the worsening coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) situation in the host country Indonesia.
FIBA, in a letter sent to the 19 domestic basketball bodies whose teams have already qualified for either the main tournament or the wildcard qualifiers, announced on Friday that the traditionally quadrennial tournament will now be played on July 2022, "right after the window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asia Qualifiers."
Indonesia's capital Jakarta will remain the host city for the event.
Indonesia saw a surge in daily Covid-19 cases, which reached as high as 56,757 on July 15, mainly due to the highly transmissible Delta variant which was first detected in India.
Daily cases in the Southeast Asian country have dwindled to 33,772 as of Wednesday.
FIBA, however, said pushing through with the tournament scheduled from Aug. 17 to 29 in Jakarta is very risky.
At least one country, Jordan, has expressed its desire to take over the hosting chores from Indonesia, but the postponement has been ultimately ruled. (PNA)
