COVID-19: Japan PM to propose 1-year postponement of Olympics

Tokyo, March 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and growing clamour to push back the Olympics, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to propose a one-year postponement of the Tokyo Games during his talks with IOC President Thomas Bach, Japans NHK public television reported on Tuesday.

Abe said a postponement is unavoidable if the 2020 Games cannot be held in a complete manner amid the coronavirus pandemic, the report says.

After the IOC said it would come to a decision on the Tokyo Games over the next four weeks, Abe held telephone talks with Bach.

IOC member Dick Pound had stated that the 2020 Summer Games will be postponed by one year because of coronavirus.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has stated that no decision regarding the postponement of Tokyo Games, slated to start from July 24, has been made as of now by the International Olympic Association (IOC) and it will be done only in four weeks time.

Chairman of the British Olympic Association has said Great Britain would be unlikely to send a team to Tokyo this summer while Australia and Canada have already said they will not compete in Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee has also said that "the path toward postponement" of the Tokyo Games is "most promising" after surveying about 2,000 American athletes.

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee sent a survey over the weekend to more than 4,000 athletes on the coronavirus pandemic and the Games, and they received responses from 1,780, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees announced on Sunday that they will not send a delegation of athletes to the Tokyo Games unless they were postponed.

Australia's Olympic Committee also released a similar statement, saying that its athletes should prepare for a Tokyo Olympic Games "in the northern summer of 2021".

Source: IANS