Nanjing (China), Jul 6 (IANS): The World Athletics Council has decided to cancel the 2022 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships, scheduled to be held in the eastern Chinese city of Yangzhou in November, due to the pandemic.

The event, originally scheduled to take place in Yangzhou in March, had been postponed to November. However, the World Athletics Council, the Chinese Athletics Association, and the local organising committee have now agreed to cancel the event.

This is another major event that China has declined to host in 2022 citing the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason.

Earlier, it had got the 2022 Asian Games, which were scheduled to be held in September in Hangzhou, postponed to 2023 and the new dates will be announced later. China had also given up hosting rights for the 2023 AFC Men's Asian Cup finals and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is looking for a new host.

Meanwhile, the World Athletics Council decided to grant the World Athletics Road Running Championships to Yangzhou for March 2027, reports Xinhua.

This new event will debut in 2023 and take place every two years, encompassing the Half Marathon Championships and 5km races. In addition to elite championships, World Athletics plans to include mass events in its programme.