IOC Head Bach Visit to Japan Set for May to Be Postponed – Tokyo 2020 Organisers

On May 10, organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics announced that International Olympics Committee president Thomas Bach due to Japan’s Covid-19 state of emergency prolonged three months before the Tokyo Games. 

Bach’s supposed trip was planned to occur on May 27 but the organizers decided to postpone the visit due to the country’s extension of the state of emergency regarding the coronavirus resurge.

Preparations

It is one of the current pandemic-related disruptions on the Tokyo Games which have also included a few test events canceled, delayed, or transferred which also affected the betting sites.

A sports test event with more than 400 participants was held in the closed premises of Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. The Olympics organizers and the government of Japan assert that the much-anticipated Tokyo Games can proceed safely this summer, albeit according to some polls the Japanese citizens prefer the cancellation or another postponement of the event.

The Tokyo 2020 organizing staff said in a statement that they hope the visit will happen sooner to evaluate the situation of the coronavirus pandemic and sports betting in Japan. According to some media outlets in Japan, the visit is rescheduled for June.

State of Emergency Extension

Last week, an extension to the end of May in the affected prefectures including Tokyo was announced, even though Japan’s state of emergency was less strict than the lockdowns in other nations.

The president of the Tokyo 2020 Games Seiko Hashimoto announced on Friday that the visit would be very problematic given the state of things. With just about 10,800 casualties, Japan remains one of the countries with smaller cases of the Covid-19 virus.

However, the vaccination program has a slow pace, and some regions have new cases due to the new variants that are a harbinger of fresh waves of infection.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was forced to admit on Monday that the parliament’s priority is not into the Games but rather on the health and well-being of every Japanese person.

Expected Attendees

Despite persistent COVID-19 dangers, IOC former deputy John Coates told AFP on Saturday that nothing could prevent the Tokyo Olympics from taking place.

More than 10,000 competitors from 200 countries and territories are scheduled to join the Games in Tokyo, with a choice on how many local fans, if any, will attend this June and bet on sg88win.

According to a poll released Monday by Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun daily, 59% of participants want the delayed 2020 Olympics, which are set to begin on July 23, to be canceled. There was no option for a second postponement in the poll.

Both President Bach and Prime Minister Abe expressed their concern regarding the growing number of cases because of the new variants and their effect on the preparation of the athletes and the national teams for the Games. The two chiefs commended the work of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and regarding solutions and methods made by the Japanese government on fighting the coronavirus.

A Silver Lining

The unprecedented and unexpected rise of the pandemic has seen the world continuously in ruin. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that the COVID-19 pandemic will soon be over.

Because of the current circumstances and from the data given by the WHO, The Prime Minister of Japan and IOC president have decided to postpone the XXXII Olympics in Tokyo to a time further 2020 but not later than summer 2021 to ensure the health of the players and the people involved in the event and the people who will attend and engage in sports betting online Singapore.

Both chiefs decided that the Olympics could serve as a dash of hope in these trying times in which the Olympic flame could shine a light and guide us to the end of this suffering. Therefore it was decided that the Olympics will stay in Japan.