TOKYO: Tokyo Games chief executive has said he cannot guarantee if the Olympics, which got postponed by a year during the wake of COVID-10 pandemic, are going to be held in 2021.
The Olympics was originally scheduled to be held from July 24 to August 9 this year. However, the fallout from the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic led to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) eventually announcing that the Tokyo Games will now be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
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Tokyo organising committee CEO Toshiro Muto, speaking through an interpreter at a press conference conducted remotely on Friday said, it's impossible to predict where the planet will be with the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2021, when the Games were rescheduled to start.
"I don't think anyone would be ready to say if it's going to be possible to get it in check by next July or not," Muto said. "We're certainly aren't in a position to offer you a concrete answer."
"We have made the choice to postpone the games by one year. So this suggests that all each one of us can do is work hard to arrange for the games."
"We sincerely hope that come next year mankind will manage to beat the coronavirus crisis," he added.
When asked about alternate plans just in case the rescheduled games can't be held, he said: "Rather than deciding upon alternatives plans ... Mankind should assemble all of its technology and wisdom to work hard in order that they can develop treatments, medicines and vaccines."
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Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has already issued an emergency declaration to battle the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed thousands of lives across the globe.