TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS POSTPONEMENT LAUDED

PHILIPPINES’ top sports officials, who are involved in the country’s preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, lauded the move of postponing the quadriennial Games to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez, in a statement furnished to SunStar Davao yesterday, said, “I have always expressed that I favor its postponement, given the way this crisis seem to be taking.”

The PSC chief also said, “Safety and health of everyone is a top priority. “

Ramirez, meanwhile, added that his office has mobilized its Sports Psychology unit to actively check on our athletes and conduct guidance counselling, online or by phone for now, for our athletes who might need their support given the “challenges which resulted from these developments.”

Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) executive director Ed Picson, said, “Abap agrees this is for the best.”

He said Abap president Ricky Vargas told him on Tuesday, May 24, that it was an “inevitable and a wise decision”.

Picson also said, “With only four months away and uncertainty still in the air worldwide, I also feel there was no other recourse. We can always make adjustments in our boxers’ training and preparation.”

Abap recently produced two Tokyo Olympics-bound boxers - Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno - who both earned their spots after their impressive showing in the Asian and Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying in Amman, Jordan early this month.

Filipinos Carlos Yulo, a 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships floor exercise gold medalist, and Ernest John Uy Obiena, a pole vaulter who smashed the Asian Athletics Championships record, earlier booked tickets to the Olympics.