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Sports News of Tuesday, 24 March 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

UPDATED: Tokyo Olympics postponed till 2021

Tokyo 2020 postponed by a year Tokyo 2020 postponed by a year

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics has been officially postponed by a year until 2021 over the coronavirus pandemic.

This is coming after Canada withdrew its Olympics team from taking part in the competition billed to initially hold from Friday, 24 July to Sunday, 9 August.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the International Olympic Committee has agreed to delay the summer games by one year, according to QuickTake by Bloomberg.

The deadly virus has crippled major sporting events across the globe after infecting at least 392,427 with more than 17,000 deaths recorded worldwide.

The IOC said in a statement: "In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the World Health Organisation today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community."

The postponement is the first in the Olympics' 124-year history, although the Olympic flame will remain in Japan.

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The IOC statement continued: "The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present." [Sky Sports]

More to come...