Coronavirus Deadline for Tokyo 2020

(ATR) The longest-serving member of the IOC says there is a three month window before a decision has to be made on whether the Tokyo Olympics can be held as scheduled.

Dick Pound, in an interview with the Associated Press, says the coronavirus outbreak that is threatening to become a pandemic must be under control by late May for the Olympics to go ahead.

The former IOC vice president says that such a deadline is needed to properly prepare for the Games, which are scheduled to begin July 24.

"A lot of things have to start happening. You’ve got to start ramping up your security, your food, the Olympic Village, the hotels. The media folks will be in there building their studios," Pound said to the AP.

Pound also admitted that if the outbreak is not under control by late May, "you’re probably looking at a cancellation".

So far, the IOC has been saying that the Games will go ahead as planned. It says it will follow the advice of the World Health Organization in making a final decision.

Pound made it clear on Tuesday that he wants the 11,000 Olympic athletes and 4,400 Paralympic athletes to keep training.

"All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure that the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation."

The coronavirus outbreak is already affecting preparations for the Games, with Olympic qualifying events among the nearly 100 sports events that have been cancelled, postponed or moved. Chinese athletes have been especially hard hit, since those training within China are not allowed to travel outside the country to compete. Other Chinese athletes who had already left the country before the travel ban are training in other countries rather than returning home.

Olympic Qualifier Among Latest Postponed Events

An Olympic qualifying badminton tournament scheduled for March 24-29 in Vietnam was postponed on Tuesday, a decision that means it will no longer count toward Tokyo 2020 qualifying. The new dates, June 2-7, fall outside the qualification window.

The Badminton World Federation, in announcing the decision, also said that HSBC BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments may also be affected, but there are no concrete plans or decisions at this point to change the status of any other events.

The spread of the coronavirus continues to affect sporting events in countries other than China, where the vast majority of the more than 2,700 deaths and more than 80,000 cases have been reported. There are now cases of the disease in 34 other countries. South Korea and Italy, along with Iran, have seen recent spikes in cases.

The International Table Tennis Federation on Tuesday announced that the sport’s world championships scheduled for Busan, South Korea from March 22-29 were being postponed. The provisional dates of June 21-28 are being reserved for the event, with the ITTF adding the situation will be closely monitored in the coming weeks.

In addition, the ITTF says it is working with the organizers of the World Tour Australian and Korean Opens to find suitable dates for those events, which had been scheduled to take place during the same period.

Soccer authorities in Japan on Tuesday suspended its football league, putting all J-League and cup games on hold until March 15. South Korea on Monday delayed the start of its K-League, which was scheduled for Feb. 29.

In Italy, a ban on sporting events open to the public remains in effect in six regions in the northern part of the country. Four Serie A soccer matches were postponed last weekend. The Italian sports minister said late on Monday that upcoming matches in Serie A and the Europa League could be played but only behind closed doors.

Inter Milan announced that its Europa League match with Bulgarian side Ludogorets on Thursday will be played without any fans.

There are six Serie A matches on the schedule for this weekend in the affected regions.

Italy’s continued participation in the Six Nations rugby tournament is also in doubt. Italy is currently scheduled to travel to Ireland on March 7 and then host England in Rome on March 14, the final day of the competition.

The Italian rugby federation has postponed all matches at all levels for this weekend and also suspended any national teams from gathering in the affected regions.

Coronavirus News on Around the Rings

Written by Gerard Farek

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