(ATR) Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga wants to have spectators at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
The final decision on domestic fans attending events will be determined by the five organizing bodies for the Games. Representatives from the IOC, IPC, Tokyo 2020, and the Japanese and Tokyo governments could meet as soon as June 21, according to Kyodo News.
Overseas spectators were ruled out in March.
Suga on Thursday said the organizers’ decision on spectators would be based on new government guidelines capping attendance at large events to 10,000 in prefectures no longer in a state of emergency. Smaller venues can allow 50 percent capacity up to the 10,000 threshold.
The new measure would mean a maximum 10,000 spectators at the 68,000 seat National Stadium for the Opening Ceremony.
Kyodo News reports the local organizing committee will no longer sell tickets for the Games and is considering a lottery for those already holding tickets to attend some events. About 42 percent of the tickets to all events have already been sold.
Suga made his comments during a media conference announcing that the Covid-19 state of emergency for Tokyo and eight prefectures will end on June 20 as scheduled. Tokyo has been under a state of emergency since April 25.
Tokyo and six of the prefectures will be under a quasi-state of emergency through July 11 while Okayama and Hiroshima will not be under any restrictions. Okinawa will remain under a state of emergency until July 11.
Homepage photo: Tokyo 2020
Written by Gerard Farek
For general comments or questions,click here.
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.
