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Covid-19: Tokyo marathon postponed to March 2022
Runners pass the Ginza shopping district during the Tokyo Marathon 2017 in Tokyo. u00e2u20acu201d AFP pic

TOKYO, Sept 17 — The Tokyo marathon has been postponed to March next year, organisers said today, blaming Covid-19 and ongoing restrictions in the Japanese capital.

Japan has seen the number of infections decline following a record spike last month, which prompted the government to expand and extended virus restrictions, despite the national vaccination programme ramping up.

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"The Tokyo Marathon 2021 will be postponed to Sunday, March 6, 2022,” the Tokyo Marathon Foundation said in a statement, citing "the difficulty to forecast the trend of Covid-19”.

The race, originally set to take place earlier this year in March with around 38,000 runners including top athletes participating, had already been postponed to October.

"Even only a month away from the event, Tokyo is still under a state of emergency,” organisers said, adding next year’s marathon will be cancelled.

The 2020 Tokyo marathon was held in March with a reduced field of around 200 elite runners.

The postponement comes after Formula 1 announced in August the cancellation of October’s Japanese Grand Prix for a second year due to the pandemic. — AFP

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