Accra, March 23, GNA – The much-awaited Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is in danger following the global outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.
The widespread of the virus has indeed affected sporting activities world wide following the postponement and cancellation of some major sporting events such as the Euro 2020, the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, and many others.
Since then, there has been intense pressure on the organisers of the Games – Japan and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to take a definite decision on the event scheduled for July to August and followed by the Paralympic Games in the same country in September.
Earlier the Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Shinzo Abe insists the Games would be held as scheduled but recent public pressure made him make a u-turn to say the postponement of the global event is unvoidable, whilst the IOC President Thomas Bach wants at least four more weeks to determine the future of the event.
According to Prime Minister Abe, whilst cancelling the Games was not an option, a delay was now on the cards if that was the only way to hold the events in a complete format.
“If it becomes difficult. we may have no option but to consider postponing the games,” he told parliament.
From all indications, Japan which so far recorded over 1000 cases is definitely not in the mood to cancel the Games but postponement.
Their position is understandable after spending almost $15 billion for preparations for the Games, and the cancellation of the event means the huge investments have gone waste.
However, the pressure for the cancellation or postponement of the event has become intense after Australia and Canada on Monday announced that they were not going to send athletes to the Games due to the ongoing outbreak.
For the two countries who have also been hard hit by the pandemic, participating in the Games would pose more threat to the campaign against the global pandemic, as they can also not guarantee the safety lof their athletes.
In addition, the pandemic seemed to have affected the qualifiers for the competition as most athletes are yet to secure qualification marks to participate in the Games.
Boxers from Europe and Asia are yet to undertake their qualifiers, which the world qualifiers in France in May also hanged up due to the pandemic.
Similarly, the training schedules of most athletes for the games have been truncated following the pandemic and this has made the call for the postponement of the Games more intense.
It is expected that many countries would announce their withdrawal from the competition, thereby making the competition less attractive and meeting the Olympic values.
With no end in sight for the virus, as daily reports suggests a decrease in the number of people infected as well as deaths, one cannot but say the 2020 Olympic Games is in serious doubts.
GNA