(ATR) Japan is well on track in its preparations for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, according to World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper.
The tournament will be the first of its kind in the Asian region and Gosper praised the organization of the event so far while speaking to reporters at the World Rugby Confex in London this week.
While Tokyo’s plans for the Olympics come under serious financial scrutiny, there is more positivity surrounding the rugby showpiece particularly since the decision was taken to move the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup to the Yokohama International Stadium.
Gosper explained that World Rugby was in regular contact with organizers and had recently returned from a review of preparations so far.
He said: "We were out there recently for our latest review – we have three every year – and everything is good. They have top-level people working on this and from the Prime Minister on down, there is a good sense of momentum and they are on track.
"In fact they are ahead of where England were at this stage of the preparations, three years out, on most of the criteria. We are very happy with the Yokohama as the stadium for the final."
Originally the final was due to be staged in the proposed Tokyo Olympic Stadium. However, cost-cutting measures introduced forced a switch to the Yokohama Stadium which hosted the FIFA World Cup final in 2002.
World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont echoed Gosper’s comments and admitted that he had been "impressed" with what he saw from the Japan 2019 team last month.
"I was there two weeks ago and was impressed with the expertise, the passion and commitment," Beaumont said. "They have some impressive people focused on delivering the tournament."
Although Japan is leading the way in terms of rugby development in Asia, there is strong interest from China. A number of delegates at this year’s World Rugby Confex are from China, and Gosper said that he expected a World Cup hosting bid from the nation in the not too distant future.
"They would very much like a World Series Sevens event, probably in Shanghai," Gosper said. "Then one day, sooner rather than later, they would like to have a World Cup. That’s how ambitious they are."
The hosts of the 2023 Rugby World Cup will be chosen by World Rugby in November of next year. The candidates are France, Ireland and South Africa with the latter being seen as a frontrunner having hosted the tournament before in 1995.
Written by Christian Radnedgein London
For general comments or questions,click here.
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
