London, The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has announced a 24-hour change to the dates for the 2022 Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham. The Games will now take place between July 28 and August 8, instead of July 27 and August 7 in 2022.

"The joint announcement from the CGF and Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee comes after the significant impact to the international sporting calendar caused by COVID-19," CWF said in a statement.

"It ensures that Birmingham 2022 will now boast two full weekends of Commonwealth Sport whilst extending the rest and recovery period for those athletes competing in the World Athletics Championships."

The alteration to the opening ceremony date also avoids a potential clash with the semi-finals of the recently rescheduled UEFA Women's Football Championships.

The Birmingham 2022 is expected to be the first major multi-sport event in history to have more women's medal events than men's events.

CGF President Dame Louise Martin DBE said: "In unprecedented circumstances, I am delighted that we have been able to work in partnership to ensure that the Commonwealth Games will take pride of place in what will be a fantastic summer of sport."

John Crabtree, Chairman of Birmingham 2022, said: "The COVID-19 pandemic has had a seismic impact on the international sporting calendar for the next couple of years."

"This has understandably needed to be reshaped and rewritten and we've spent the last few weeks working with other organisations to align, collaborate, and analyse what these changes mean for Birmingham 2022, our athletes, our spectators, our TV viewers, and our partners.

"As well as this slight change to our dates we are working on a detailed competition schedule for our 19 sports, looking at how we can maximise the recovery time for those athletes who will be looking to participate in more than one major event in two years' time," he added.