Hong Kong Rugby Sevens to Resume in 2021 as Virus Cases Ease

(Bloomberg) -- One of Hong Kong’s biggest social events, the Rugby Sevens, is poised to return this year amid growing expectations that life will gradually return to normal in the coming months.

The event, part of the broader HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, is set to be held in Hong Kong on Nov. 5-7, the organizer said in a statement Wednesday. Related events are also planned in Paris, Singapore, Dubai and Cape Town, it said. Talks are being held whether to also hold matches in London and Vancouver.

The Hong Kong Sevens would mark the first major sporting event to return to the city since the pandemic. The tournament, originally scheduled for April, was postponed by the organizer late last year as the city battled a rise in Covid-19 cases but infections have fallen recently to the point that the government began to relax some social-distancing rules.

Last year, the tournament was canceled for the first time since its debut in 1976 due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Clockenflap, Hong Kong’s biggest annual music festival, is also poised to return late November after being canceled the previous two years. The city’s biggest annual art fair, Art Basel, will also likely go ahead this year with fewer visitors, the South China Morning Post reported.

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