Advertisement
Hong Kong’s Gay Games pushed to 2023 due to city’s strict Covid-19 quarantine rules
- ‘We don’t want to have people excluded because they are not vaccinated or don’t have enough time to prepare,’ founder Dennis Philipse tells Post
- Decision unrelated to recent public attacks by lawmakers, he says, adding the additional time will also help organisers secure necessary venues
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
The 2022 Gay Games, which Hong Kong was to host in just over a year, have been postponed until 2023 due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
Advertisement
Founder and co-chair Dennis Philipse told the Post the decision to delay the event, which has never been held in Asia, was unrelated to recent attacks by a small group of lawmakers and made “purely from a Covid perspective”. Postponing also gave organisers more time to secure venues and for athletes to train, he said.
We cannot have quarantine rules in place for our events. We cannot be in a bubble
An estimated 12,000 people from 100 countries and regions were expected to take part in 36 sports competitions, as well as various arts and cultural activities, over nine days beginning on November 11 next year. Anyone can take part, regardless of sexual orientation.
But amid the city’s quarantine requirements, some of the strictest in the world, only 1,540 pre-registrations had been confirmed so far.
“We cannot have quarantine rules in place for our events. We cannot be in a bubble,” Philipse said.
Advertisement
“We don’t want to have people excluded because they are not vaccinated or don’t have enough time to prepare. [So] we’re moving this one year out, and we really believe that this is an opportunity for everybody to get back to life, hopefully get vaccinated, and get back to the match, back to the pool.”
Advertisement