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(ATR Japan) Children and sport are important factors in the reconstruction from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
Next July the Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium in Fukushima will hold the first events of the 2020 Olympics, matches in baseball and softball.
Earlier this month, the Fukushima stadium was the scene for the 29th World Children’s Baseball Fair with youngsters from 14 countries. The baseball fair is an annual event launched by Sadaharu Oh and Henry Aaron, greats of professional baseball in Japan and the U.S.
The young players sweated together through international matches and practice.
"It was a lot of fun to be able to play baseball in Fukushima. Before I came to Japan, I was worried about coming to Fukushima, but now it has eased. I want to come to Fukushima again," said a smiling Yi-Yu Tseng of Chinese Taipei.
Mr. Wáng Zhēnzhì, who help found the World Youth Baseball Tournament, says it was created to "promote and spread baseball correctly all over the world, while at the same time expanding the circle of friendship and goodwill to the youth of the world".
It was first held in Los Angeles in 1990 as a large-scale tournament where boys and girls from around the world participated in summer every summer.
Holding a historic baseball tournament in Fukushima has great significance says Sadaharu Wang.
Click here for the rest of the story.
Q&A with Lausanne 2020 President
Organizers of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne have less than four months to get ready. Opening ceremony is January 9 for this third installment of the winter YOG.
Training for the torch relay and volunteers begins next month.
Virginie Faivre, president of Lausanne 2020 and world champion freestyle skier, says the upcoming torch relay is meant to inspire young people in Switzerland.
She explains in part two of a Q&A with Around the Rings.
ATR: Give us a sneak peak at what you have planned for the torch relay and how it will benefit Swiss youth in the years ahead?
VF: Our Torch Tour will see the flame visiting all 26 regions in Switzerland.
It starts of course in Greece, with the lighting of the flame. This will already be done soon, in September, to allow enough time for the flame to travel all through the country in the three months leading up to the Games.
The tour is organized with our National Olympic Committee, Swiss Olympic, and focuses a lot on schools. In many cases, the schools will host the flame and it will give them the opportunity to talk about what the flame represents, and the values it carries.
This will be very important in engaging the entire nation - also the Swiss German part of the country, so that the whole of Switzerland supports and recognizes the value of the Olympic Games.
Click here for the rest of the interview.
For general comments or questions,click here.
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