Low-key Olympic Flame handover; three more F1 races postponed

Tokyo 2020 has received the Olympic Flame from Greece in a stripped down handover ceremony amid an ongoing debate whether the Games should be held in summer, given the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Formula One meanwhile postponed three more races on the day and won’t start until June, Turkey suspended its football while English football will not restart until late April, at the earliest, as the Covid-19 disease continues to play havoc with the sports calendar.

Former Japanese swimmer Naoko Imoto, who lives in Greece, received the flame lit last week in ancient Olympia in a near empty Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896.

Greek Olympic Committee chief Spyros Capralos said “we hope the Olympic Flame extinguishes the virus.”

Japanese organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori made his address via video link, hoping the flame’s arrival Friday would help “shake off the dark clouds hanging over the world.”

Immediately placed into a holding lantern, the flame is to be arrive in northern Japan, with a toned down torch relay to start March 26 in the Fukushima prefecture hit hard in 2011 by an earthquake, tsunami and the meltdown of three reactors at the local nuclear plant.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been criticised for pressing on with preparations for the July 24-August 9 Games despite the global health crisis which has seen more than 200,000 people infected and the death toll nearing 9,000.

Apart from fears of contracting the virus, athletes and officials believe that lockdowns in some parts of the world and ongoing training in others would lead to unfair competition in what is a career highlight for every athlete.

The IOC admitted that “a solution with the least negative impact for the athletes” was being sought and IOC president Thomas Bach said Wednesday’s conference call with athletes was “very constructive and gave us alot of insight.”

But German decathlon world champion Niklas Kaul, confined to training in his parents’ garden, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “For me it would be difficult (to compete in Tokyo). Simply from the idea of fairness.”

World Athletics chief and London 2012 Olympics Sebastian Coe admitted in The Times Thursday that training conditions varied considerably and would probably not lead to fully fair conditions in Japan.

He also said it was too early for a final decision on the Games but wouldn’t rule out anything.

Read also: No Formula One before June as Monaco also falls to coronavirus

“Let’s not make a precipitous decision when we don’t have to four months out,” Coe told BBC radio. “If you had to ease that date, you’d have to ease it. It is possible. Anything is possible.”

Hong Kong’s karate team Olympic hopeful Lee Chun Ho meanwhile became the latest athlete to contract the virus, while training for a Tokyo qualifier in France, according to a Hong Kong Institute of Sport spokesman.

The governing motorsport body FIA meanwhile said the the May F1 races in the Netherlands, Spain and Monaco were postponed – adding to the cancelled/postponed Australia, China, Bahrain and Vietnam grands prix, with now the earliest possible start June 7 in Azerbaijan and attempts to be made stage at least some of the postponed events later in the season now only comprising 15 events.

“The FIA and Formula 1 expect to begin the 2020 Championship season as soon as it is safe to do so after May and will continue to regularly monitor the ongoing Covid-19 situation,” the statement said.

The 10 teams are also set to postpone sweeping rule changes including cost-cutting from 2021 to 2022.

The football community meanwhile hopes to complete its seasons after the continental body UEFA gave them more time on Tuesday by postponing Euro 2020 by one year to give them more time – with the Football Association (FA), Premier League and English Football League agreeing on the latest measures there.

The FA’s rules and regulations state the season shall terminate no later than the June 1 but it was agreed this can be “extended indefinitely” for the 2019-20 campaign.

“The progress of Covid-19 remains unclear and we can reassure everyone the health and welfare of players, staff and supporters are our priority,” a statement said.

“We’re united in our commitment to finding ways of resuming the 2019-20 football season and ensuring all domestic and European club league and cup matches are played as soon as it is safe and possible to do so.”

Also in football, Turkey postponed its league (along with basketball and volleyball) after playing behind closed doors last week amid a growing number of infections, Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic was facing criminal charges for violating Serbian isolation rules after returning to his home country; while in Germany Borussia Moenchengladbach players have agreed on reduced salaries during the Covid-19 crisis.

UEFA meanwhile said it is giving clubs an additional month until the end of April to present their Financial Fair Play figures, as the shutdown of many leagues deprives clubs of income.

Tennis authorities meanwhile late Wednesday announced that the entire spring clay court season was scrapped, with no play until June 7 on the men’s and women’s Tour, at the earliest. (dpa)