{"id":43102,"date":"2021-03-10T11:11:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T12:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=43102"},"modified":"2021-03-10T12:19:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T12:19:37","slug":"japan-decides-to-stage-tokyo-olympics-without-foreign-spectators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=43102","title":{"rendered":"Japan decides to stage \u2018Tokyo Olympics\u2019 without foreign spectators"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tokyo: Japan has decided to exclude overseas spectators from the\u00a0Tokyo\u00a0Olympics\u00a0over fears an influx of visitors could bring an increase in coronavirus infections, local media reported Tuesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kyodo News said the government had concluded it was “not possible” to allow fans from abroad to attend this summer’s Games, already delayed by a year because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

This was due to “concerns among the Japanese public over the coronavirus and the fact that more contagious variants have been detected in many countries”, Kyodo said, citing unnamed officials.<\/p>\n

The Asahi Shimbun daily said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had asked Japan to make exceptions for overseas guests linked to sponsors, and that the government was considering the request.<\/p>\n

Despite a spike in infections this winter, Japan has had a comparatively small outbreak overall, with about 8,300 deaths. It has avoided imposing blanket lockdowns, but the\u00a0Tokyo\u00a0area is currently under a state of emergency that requests bars and restaurants close early.<\/p>\n

Tokyo\u00a02020 organisers have stressed that public safety will be “top priority” at the\u00a0Olympics, which are due to start on July 23.<\/p>\n

Around 900,000 tickets have reportedly been sold outside Japan.<\/p>\n

Games organisers have said they plan to officially rule this month on the matter of foreign fans — likely before the nationwide torch relay begins on March 25.<\/p>\n

Earlier Tuesday, there were reports that the torch-relay starting ceremony would probably be held without spectators, but fans would still be able to line the route.<\/p>\n

And a poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun published this week found that more than 75 percent of Japanese opposed overseas fans attending the Games.<\/p>\n

Tokyo\u00a02020 president Seiko Hashimoto said Friday that organisers “really want to hold the event in full stadiums with fans from around the world”.<\/p>\n

But this would be difficult “if we’re not in a position where we can accept them and the situation with medical facilities isn’t perfect”, she said.<\/p>\n

Organisers have already laid out strict rules for the nationwide torch relay, which was called off in 2020 after the historic decision to postpone the Games by a year.<\/p>\n

Reports said organisers feared crowding at the March 25 starting event in Fukushima, and would probably bar the 3,000 spectators initially planned.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for\u00a0Tokyo\u00a02020 organisers would say only that “details of the (relay) Grand Start are still under discussion”.<\/p>\n

Organisers are also set to decide on limits on overall spectator numbers in April.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0Breakdancing among four sports to win Paris 2024 Olympics spot<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tokyo: Japan has decided to exclude overseas spectators from the\u00a0Tokyo\u00a0Olympics\u00a0over fears an influx of visitors could bring an increase in coronavirus infections, local media reported […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43102"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43104,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43102\/revisions\/43104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}