KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) is confident that the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to July 2021 will give ample space and time for sponsors, athletes, officials and all stakeholders to overcome various challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, in welcoming the postponement, said it would also allow all parties to rearrange their training and competition programmes as well as the athletes’ stalled qualifying process.
In a statement issued by KBS today, he hoped that international federations, together with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC), would reach a consensus in determining the best and fairest qualification process for all athletes yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
He said the ministry, Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) and Malaysian Paralympic Council (MPC) would continue to work together to ensure the national contingent would be best prepared to achieve its targets in Tokyo — to bag the country’s first Olympic gold medal and repeat its three-gold feat at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
IOC, IPC, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the Japanese government held a teleconference on Monday and agreed to postpone the Olympic Games from July 24-Aug 9 this year to July 23-Aug 8, 2021.
The Paralympics, scheduled to be held from Aug 25-Sept 6 2020, will now be held from Aug 24-Sept 5 2021. — Bernama
