China cancels World University Games

According to Interfax, citing data from the International University Sports Federation (FISU), “after extensive discussions between FISU, the Chengdu 2021 Organizing Committee and other interested parties,” the games are postponed to 2023.

The games were originally scheduled for the summer of 2021, but after the Beijing 2020 Olympic Games were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the dates of the Universiade were also shifted.

However, this year the games again decided not to hold.

“The decision to postpone Chengdu to 2021 was not an easy one to make, but it is the right decision for university athletes. Their well-being is always our number one priority,” said FISU Acting President Leonz Eder.

He noted that "the ongoing uncertainty about conditions has made rescheduling a reasonable choice".

A few days earlier, it became known that against the background of the military special operation of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, the Summer Universiade in Yekaterinburg, scheduled from August 8 to 19, 2023, will also not take place.

In addition to the cancellation of the competitions in Yekaterinburg, the previously planned competitions under the auspices of FISU in the Russian Federation and Belarus have been postponed. Athletes from these countries will also not be able to take part in FISU events. Instead of Yekaterinburg, the executive committee of the Universiade appointed a meeting in Brussels. When the games will take place, the organizing committee will decide in November this year.

The Universiade is held every two years in 18 sports over 12 days. The venues for the games are chosen from different countries. Students aged 17 to 25 compete in such sports as basketball, sambo, boxing, artistic and artistic gymnastics, swimming, athletics and others. Athletes from 150 countries were supposed to come to the Universiade in Yekaterinburg.

The decision to remove Russia and Belarus from world sports was made against the backdrop of the start of a military special operation of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine.