Australian softball team first to arrive for Olympics

Australia’s softball squad arrived in Japan for a pre-Olympic camp on Tuesday, the first national team to come to the country for training since the Games were postponed last year, even as a majority of Japanese oppose staging the Games due to Covid-19. Japan is battling a fourth wave of COVID-19 eight weeks out from the scheduled start of the 2020 Olympics, with 10 regions including Tokyo under a state of emergency until June 20, but the country’s vaccine roll out has been slow. A top government spokesman said vaccinations at workplaces and universities would start on June 21 to speed up the country’s inoculation drive. Only about 3% of Japan’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Vaccinations of Japan’s Olympic athletes will begin on Tuesday. The Australian softball squad will attend a 47-day camp around 80km northwest of Tokyo. All members of the delegation have been vaccinated and are scheduled to be tested every day.