COVID-19 Could Force Olympics Cancellation, Says Top Japanese Politician

By Daily sports on April 16, 2021

A senior Japanese politician said cancelling the Tokyo Olympics over the coronavirus remains a possibility on Thursday, as a surge in cases renews concerns about the Games with less than 100 days to go.

Toshiro Nikai, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s number two, said the Olympics must be cancelled “without hesitation” if the virus situation is too severe.

A year after their historic postponement, the 2020 Olympics remain beset by pandemic problems, with parts of the torch relay forced behind closed doors and public support consistently low.

Organisers and Olympic officials insist the Games will go ahead safely, but Nikai said Thursday that all options were on the table.

“We need to make a decision depending on the situation at the time,” he told the private TBS television network.

“We need to cancel it without hesitation if they’re no longer possible,” added Nikai, who is the LDP’s secretary general.

Asked if he considered cancellation an option, Nikai said: “Yes of course.”

“If infection spreads because of the Olympics, I don’t know what the Olympics is for.”

He added however that he sees the Games as an “opportunity”, and it was “important for Japan to foster excitement with support from the public”.

“We definitely want to make a success. In order to do so, there are various issues to solve. It’s important to solve them one by one.”

– ‘Might be no spectators’ –

The comments were quickly dismissed by an unnamed LDP official, who told the Jiji news agency: “The Games will not be cancelled.”

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said she had “been told that the comment meant it is an option”.

“I take it as a message of strong encouragement that we contain the coronavirus by all means,” she said.

Japan’s vaccine minister meanwhile mooted the possibility of a total bar on spectators at the Games.

“We’ll hold the Olympics in a form that is feasible,” the Asahi newspaper quoted Taro Kono as saying.

“There might be no spectators.”

Nikai’s remarks come with fresh worries in Japan about what experts have called a fourth wave of infections.

Record numbers of cases have been reported in Osaka in recent days, and the government has been forced to authorise new restrictions just weeks after lifting a virus state of emergency.

The surge has already forced the Olympic torch relay off public roads in Osaka, and a city in western Japan also announced Wednesday that it would cancel the public event. (AFP)

•PHOTO: Olympics Rings 

 

Source Daily sports

Posted April 16, 2021


 

You may also like...
Rangers stun Akwa United to go top

Anthony Davis Scores 50 In Lakers Win

NFF is steering Nigerian football to safe anchor...

Serie A Leaders Inter Held By Roma

Dalung, Pinnick, Akinwunmi to cheer Eagles against Mena...

Chelsea contact Juventus over Higuain

 

Latest News CAF awards: Ajibade, Nnadozie, Edo Queens bag nominations Lagos SWAN, PAACC Hold SWAN Day At Golfview Hotels, Ikeja Crisis looms as Eagles’ form raises AFCON, W’Cup concerns Ex-Nigerian Super Falcons player handcuffed, children assaulted as police storm Anambra Football Academy Sports NFF, teammates console Nwabali on father’s death Abia Govt hails Nigeria Olympic Committee over staging an admin course in Umuahia Libya deliver Eagles 2025 AFCON ticket Eagles battle Cheetahs for 2025 AFCON ticket Yellow Greens gear up for T20 W’Cup qualifiers Tyson tips Fury to beat Joshua Sadiq absent as 22 Eagles train in Abidjan Eagles’ striking trio hot for Cheetahs, Amavubi clashes

 

Most Read Rangers International going, going . . . (55,164 views) Amaju Pinnick: A cat with nine lives (46,308 views) Second Term: Amaju Pinnick, Other NFF Heavyweights Home to Roost •How Pinnick Broke the Jinx (44,370 views) Missing $150,000 IAAF Grant: Solomon Dalung’s Hide and Seek game (44,015 views) Sports Development: Zenith Bank on the zenith (43,948 views) Current issues in Nigerian sports: Matters arising (43,904 views) Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje’s solid footprints, commitment to sports development in Kano State (43,743 views) NFF Presidency: Pinnick, Maigari, Ogunjobi, Okoye in Battle for Supremacy (43,312 views) Olopade, BET9A wave of revolution in NNL (42,366 views) Commonwealth Games 2018: Shame of Muhammadu Buhari, Solomon Dalung (41,054 views) Ibrahimovic’s Man U exit: Whose decision is it? And in whose interest? (39,507 views) John Mikel Obi: Segun Odegbami’s Outrageous Call! (38,932 views)

 

Phone numbers

Tel: +234(0)8066020976
+234(0)8055068145
+234(0)7013416146
+234(0)8094272884

Email addresses

info@dailysportsng.com
support@dailysportsng.com
publisher@dailysportsng.com

Office address

No 3, Adetoun Close, Off College Road, Ogba, Ikeja Lagos.
Website: www.dailysportsng.com

Social Media