Torch may not lift Japan mood

Olympic chiefs are under pressure to call off global extravaganza

NEWDELHI: While Greece handed over the Olympic flame to Tokyo 2020 organisers in Athens on Thursday, voices grew across the globe calling for the Games to be deferred over the coronavirus pandemic.

In a brief, closed doors ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium—site of the first modern Games in 1896—the torch was received by a Tokyo Games representative. It will reach Japan on Friday and kick-off a domestic relay on March 26 with the Games set to take place from July 24-August 9.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government have insisted the Games will go ahead and have publicly rejected any talk of cancellation or postponement. But the scale of the pandemic, which has infected more than 200,000 people and killed more than 8,700 across the world, has forced the cancellation of almost all sporting events worldwide, raising concerns about whether the Olympics will be able to open as planned.

The eerie mood during the torch ceremony, which normally attracts thousands of visitors, reflected the problems facing Tokyo 2020.

Several athletes have cast doubts on the quality of competition in Tokyo, given that thousands cannot train due to restrictions placed upon them in many countries, and many more who may not be able to qualify because the qualilfying tournaments are suspended.

COE FOR DEFERMENT

World athletics chief Sebastian Coe on Thursday admitted that the Olympics could be moved to later in the year, adding that it was too early to make a definitive decision.

“Anything is possible at the moment,” said Coe. “But the position that sport has certainly taken, and it was certainly the temperature of the room in the conversation I had the other day with the IOC and our other federations, is that nobody is saying we’ll be going to the Games come what may. But it isn’t a decision that has to be made at this moment.”

Coe said that postponing the Games until 2021 could present its own set of problems. “That seems on the surface of it an easy proposition, but member federations actually avoid Olympic years often to have their World Championships,” he said.

Britain’s retired four-time rowing Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent called for decisive action. “On a global front we have other priorities. The Olympics should at the very least be saying we should postpone or indeed just cancel at this stage and we’ll talk about postponement later on,” he said. “I just don’t think there’s much of a choice at this stage.”

A Japanese doctor who created a media firestorm with videos criticising the quarantine of a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship, said he now believes Tokyo 2020 should not go on. Kentaro Iwata, who is a professor of infectious disease at Kobe University, said that it’s not clear that the outbreak in Japan will subside by July.

Also, the flood of foreign visitors could exacerbate the spread of the disease.

“The Olympics are not just a mass gathering, but a mass gathering from all over the world, while COVID is a global pandemic,” Iwata wrote. “These two things don’t go together.”

Iwata boarded the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in February and his Youtube videos decrying the conditions there got more than a million views.

Golf’s Asian Tour CEO Cho Minn Thant said that the Olympics going ahead is “highly unlikely” and proceeding as planned could cost Asian players the chance to qualify. All golf tournaments across the continent have been suspended until at least the end of May in line with the US PGA and European Tours.

Australia’s chef de mission at the London 2012, Nick Green too said that he doubted the Games can proceed as planned. “A couple of weeks ago, I was as confident as everyone else, saying the Olympics would go ahead, no problem,” Green, an Olympic rowing champion, told Sydney Morning Herald.

“I’m pretty robust about it but I don’t have the same robustness in my thinking now. I actually can’t see how the Games can go ahead, to be frank.”

Ian Chesterman, Australia’s chef de mission for Tokyo, admitted it was a “complex” situation with so many Olympic qualification events cancelled and travel bans in place.

One of the IOC’S 100 members had earlier broken ranks in a rare public criticism of the body’s unwavering strategy.

“The IOC insisting this will move ahead, with such conviction, is insensitive and irresponsible,” Hayley Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympic ice hockey gold medallist, said.

Japan has recorded more than 1,600 cases of coronavirus till date. Thirty nine people have died, including seven from the cruise ship.

ATHLETICS

In India, most athletes were looking to make the cut at the three Indian GP events and the Federation Cup—all of these now stand suspended. Only four Indians—javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh, Steeplechaser Avinash Sable, race walkers KT Irfan and Bhawna Jat, and the 4X400 mixed relay team have qualified for the Olympics so far. The U.S. Olympic track and field trials are scheduled for June 19-28. Olympic qualification closes June 29.

BADMINTON

All tournaments stand suspended till April 12. Ranking points gained till April 28 will be applicable for Olympic qualification. As it stands, only PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and the doubles pair of Chirag and Satwiksairaj are inside the Olympic rankings cut-off.

BOXING

Indians (men and women) have sealed nine berths from the Asian qualifier and were looking to book some more (four slots remaining) from the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament scheduled for May 13 in Paris, which is now uncertain. The IOC Boxing Task Force is still working on a plan for replacing the qualification events.

EQUESTRIAN

All equestrian qualifiers around the world are complete. India will be represented by Fouaad Mirza, the first in 20 years to qualify in the event.

FIELD HOCKEY

Tournaments to fill the 12-team men’s and women’s fields were completed in 2019. Ten countries qualified for both: Australia, Argentina, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the Netherlands and Britain.

GOLF

Sixty golfers are determined by the world rankings, two per country with a maximum of four if they are among the top 15. India’s Rashid Khan and Udayan Mane are inside the qualifying rank if it is frozen right now. Tiger Woods, meanwhile, stands outside.

ROWING

All the Olympic qualification regatta have been cancelled on March 14. The world body is in the process of finalising a new qualification system in consultation with IOC. A final decision is expected by April 5.

SHOOTING

Shooting is India’s biggest hopes at the Tokyo Games and the country has already bagged 15 quota places. India was expected to get a couple of more quotas in shotgun from the world ranking system, but with the postponement of two world cups, including one at New Delhi this month, that is now uncertain.

TENNIS

The International Tennis Federation says Olympic eligibility will still be based on the WTA and ATP rankings as of June 8, even though more than a month of the tours’ schedules in March and April have been scrapped. Requirements related to minimum participation in Fed Cup or Davis Cup remain in place—as does an appeal process for players who do not meet those standards.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Spots are decided by the world ranking. The European, Asian and African championships have been postponed. Nine Indians were to participate at the Asian championships. The world body has said that it will not go by qualifying events any more but will introduce a change in the qualifying system. It has not revealed what the change is. India’s Mirabai Chanu is an Olympic hopeful.

WRESTLING

African/oceania, European, Asian and World qualifiers have been postponed. Four wrestlers have already qualified from India—bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia, Ravi Dahiya, and Vinesh Phogat.