China will pick its swimming team for the re-arranged Asian Games in Hangzhou at its Spring Championships in March ©Getty Images

China will hold its swimming trials for this year’s Asian Games at the country’s Championships in March, it has been announced.

The event is due to take place between March 19 and 24 and is expected to be held in Qingdao, the traditional venue for the meeting.

The Asian Games in Hangzhou were originally scheduled for last year but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They have now been re-arranged to take place between September 23 and October 8 when swimming is scheduled to take place at the Hangzhou Sports Park Aquatics Center.

Sun Yang, winner of four Asian Games gold medals at Jakarta Palembang 2018, will miss this year's event due to a drugs ban ©Getty Images
Sun Yang, winner of four Asian Games gold medals at Jakarta Palembang 2018, will miss this year's event due to a drugs ban ©Getty Images

At the last Asian Games, five years ago, in Jakarta and Palembang, China won 19 gold medals, the same number as Japan.

But Japan finished top of the medals table with a total of 52 medals, compared to China’s 50.

China’s Sun Yang was the star of the event with six medals, four gold and two silver.

But Sun is set to miss Hangzhou 2022 as he is currently serving a four-year doping ban for refusing to give a sample to doping inspectors in September 2018 shortly after returning from Indonesia.

The three-time Olympic gold medallist last year lost an appeal against the suspension, which is not due to conclude until June 2024.

China finished as the top Asian nation in the Olympic medals table at Tokyo 2020 thanks to three golds, including Wang Shun in the men's 200m individual medley ©Getty Images
China finished as the top Asian nation in the Olympic medals table at Tokyo 2020 thanks to three golds, including Wang Shun in the men's 200m individual medley ©Getty Images

At the re-arranged 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, China finished fourth overall in the medals table, above Japan.

They won three gold medals, two silvers and a bronze.

The winners included Wang Shun in the men’s 200 metres individual medley and Zhang Yufei in the women’s 200m butterfly.

The third gold medal was won in the women’s 4x200m freestyle.