Paras ‘confident’ Games are on

OLYMPICS: A pre-Paralympics site visit to Japan may be cancelled due to the coronavirus but Paralympics Australia remains confident August’s Games will go ahead.

PA chief executive Lynne Anderson says her staff have been allowed to opt-out of the trip to Tokyo and Kobe scheduled from March 20.

She says she receives daily updates about the virus and is in regular contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Australian Institute of Sport and Australian Olympic Committee.

The Paralympics are due to begin on August 25, a month after the Olympics opens.

“For us, it’s business as usual but obviously with an elevated layer of being prepared and being alert,” she said.

Five people have died and more than 850 people have contracted the respiratory disease in Japan.

With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling for sports and cultural events to be scrapped or curtailed, Japanese rugby this week postponed first division matches until March 14. The country’s top-flight baseball league will also play dozens of pre-season games behind closed doors.

The International Paralympic

Committee says it will follow the advice of global and national health authorities.

“We have information coming from the IPC and International Olympic Committee and we’re consolidating that in the one source and making sure we’re on top of it,” Anderson said.

“In the meantime in Australia, it’s business as usual. We’re confident of having the opening ceremony and medals to win.”

PA meanwhile hopes its revamped school program will promote the inclusion of people with a disability and challenge perceptions.