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Icc Cancels East Asia Pacific Qualifiers Tournament Due To Covid 19 Related Restrictions

ICC cancels East-Asia Pacific qualifiers tournament due to Covid-19 related restrictions

The East-Asia Pacific qualifiers tournament that would have paved the way for the teams to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2022 and Women’s World Cup in 2023, the ICC said in a statement. The tournament was scheduled to take place in Japan among the hosts, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, the Philippines, Samoa, South Korea and Vanuatu.

The Philippines will earn an automatic qualification based on their rankings among their competitors while the contenders for other spots will be decided later on in November this year, the ICC added.

ICC’s head of events said that due to the effective regulations and Covid-19 regulations being put in place in Japan, the global governing body of the game had no option but to cancel the event.

"We have unfortunately had to cancel the EAP Qualifiers to the Men's and Women's T20 World Cups as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the current travel restrictions and quarantine requirements for travelling countries meant the only course of action was to cancel. We would like to thank all participating Members for their patience and support in coming to this decision,” Chris Tetley, ICC's head of events, said.

"In accordance with the decision taken by the ICC Board in November 2020 in relation to cancelled qualifying events the Philippines will now qualify for the next stage of the Men's pathway. For the women's, the team that will advance to the global qualifier based on the rankings will be determined at the end of November 2021."

A lot of cricketing events of the ICC have been marred by the Covid-19 pandemic and the East-Asia Pacific qualifiers tournament is the latest addition to the list of events.

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