In a Beijing moment on May 6, Olympic Council of Asia executives officially announced that the 19th Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, from Sept. 10 to 25, 2022, had to be postponed to a date to be determined.
In the face of this sudden news, Hwang Sun-hong, the head coach of the South Korean U23 national team, has commented on the impact of the delay. The coach, who is eager to lead his team to the title, said that the sudden change has made it difficult for him and that if the Asian Games are postponed to 2023, the South Korean national team will have to reevaluate the age structure of the players involved in the competition as well as their specific tactical strategies.
With regard to the men's soccer competition at the Asian Games, it is stipulated that players under the age of 23 may participate and that each team may include three over-age players. It has not yet been decided whether the age limit for men's soccer will be increased by one year if the Asian Games are postponed to 2023. However, the age limit for men's soccer has already been increased by one year at the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed by one year last year due to the Shinkansen epidemic, which may mean that the Hangzhou Asian Games will adopt the same criteria.
The South Korean U23 men's soccer team, coached by Hwang Sun-hong, is scheduled to participate in the U-23 Asian Cup to be held in Uzbekistan in June. The postponement of the Asian Games is expected to have a positive impact on the distribution of personnel between the adult national team and the U-23 national team.
