By Agence France-Presse

The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will have “no impact” on the Paris Games, which will go ahead as scheduled in “summer 2024,” the head of the organizing committee told AFP on Tuesday.

The 2020 Games were delayed until “no later than summer 2021” by the IOC and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier on Tuesday, but Estanguet said the first postponement of an Olympics during peacetime would not affect the Paris edition, which will now be staged three years after the Tokyo event.

“The 2024 Games will be held in the summer of 2024. There is no impact on the date,” said the three-time Olympic canoeing champion.

The Olympics were due to be held from July 24-August 9 this year, but it was deemed too dangerous to hold it as planned due to the pandemic which has claimed the lives of almost 7,000 people worldwide.

“It was the best decision for the athletes, for all the players in the Games,” added Estanguet.

“I believe that the Games must stay in their place.

“We are really advancing on our own preparation plan. Each situation in the Games is different. We do not have the same infrastructure to build.

“We are advancing on our schedule independently of that of Tokyo.”

The Olympics became the highest-profile of a long list of sporting events hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, with football’s Euro 2020 also postponed until next year, while the majority of global international sport has been put on hold.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Japanese citizens reacted with bitter disappointment Tuesday at the news their Olympics were postponed after years of preparation but many said they understood the move in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Tokyo’s famous Shibuya crossing was thronged with late-night crowds of young people following the announcement, as Japan has not been subject to the same movement restrictions imposed on much of the rest of the world.

Earlier in the day in a joint statement, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the Games, initially scheduled to start on July 24 this year, will now take place “not later than summer 2021”.

At Shibuya crossing, Momoko Doku, an IT engineer, stressed that the health of the athletes should take priority.

“It is disappointing for sure, but when you think about the health of athletes as well as spectators, I understand. The new coronavirus is spreading so fast in the world, and this is a very serious issue internationally,” he told AFP.

With only four months to go until the Opening Ceremony was due to begin, the Japanese capital was already decked with posters and fliers, and tickets were massively oversubscribed by its residents.

But opinion polls in the past week have shown people increasingly under the belief that the Games could not be held, as the world grappled with a virus that has killed more than 18,000 people and put a third of the world on lockdown.

For Shunsuke Kitamoto, who boxes at his local university club, the disappointment was all the more crushing as he had planned to be one of the tens of thousands of volunteers to guide fans from all over the world around the megacity.

“I was very much looking forward to seeing matches and being part of the Games as a volunteer. So it is disappointing,” Kitamoto told AFP.

However, he saw a silver lining in the fact the Games were being postponed rather than scrapped altogether as some had feared.

Sachie Tojo said the news had come as a “real surprise” and that it was “disappointing as a Tokyo citizen because I was really looking forward to it.”

But he too said the welfare of athletes was paramount.

“I also want the Games to be hosted in a good environment for athletes, so I understand,” he added.

The Olympics, which has experienced boycotts, terrorist attacks and protests, but has been held every four years since 1948, is the highest-profile event affected by the virus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has forced the postponement or cancellation of sports competitions worldwide.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Cristiano Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes will donate three intensive care units to Portuguese hospitals to help them cope with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, local health officials said on Tuesday.

The Portuguese pair will donate to at least two institutions and will give “two intensive care units”, with a “capacity of 10 beds each” to the University Hospital Centre of Northern Lisbon (CHULN), a group of hospitals in the country’s capital city, a spokesman told AFP.

CHULN currently has a capacity of 77 beds.

Mendes and Ronaldo will also donate a unit to the Santo Antonio Hospital of the University Hospital Center of Porto.

“This is a very important investment that includes more than a dozen respirators and other necessary equipment,” Eurico Castro Alves, director of the hospital’s surgery department, told newspaper Jornal de Noticias, adding the unit would bear their names.

“If necessary, Cristiano Ronaldo would like to do the same in Madeira,” he added.

Juventus forward Ronaldo has returned to his home island, which has 11 confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of the 2,362 in Portugal. The country has recorded nore than 30 deaths.

He was visiting his mother, who is recovering from a stroke, when he was placed in confinement after Juve team-mate Daniele Rugani tested positive.

The local authorities said on 12 March Ronaldo showed no symptoms.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Tom Brady, who has landed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after 20 seasons and six Super Bowl titles with New England, says he’s looking forward, not back, and is eager to get up to speed with his new team.

The task is complicated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with NFL team training and other activities on hold and team facilities shut down.

Even Brady’s introductory press conference, usually a chance for a team to show off such a prized acquisition, had to be conducted by conference call on Tuesday.

But Brady said he’s still eager to get going, and is not expecting any special considerations as he sets about learning the system of coach Bruce Arians and eventually settling in with “really talented” teammates including wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, tight ends O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate and running back Ronald Jones.

“I said the other day, no one cares what you’ve done in the past,” Brady said. “They don’t care what you did last year, five years ago or 10 years ago.

“And I think, hopefully, the knowledge I’ve had with my experience playing quarterback will allow me to transition quickly.

“There’s a lot of things I’ve got to get up to speed on. Obviously learning different terminology, that’s a unique challenge that I haven’t faced, but it’s one that I’m looking forward to also.

“It’s a new program that I’m a part of, and they have their way of doing things, and they’re committed to winning. I’ve got to come in and do my part, and that’s why I’m here.”

Brady shed little light on the events that preceded his departure as a free agent from New England, where his relationship with coach Bill Belichick had reportedly come under strain in recent seasons even as he remained close to the Patriots’ billionaire owner Robert Kraft.

“I leave there with just great admiration for the people and the organization,” Brady said. “It’s a world-class, first-class organization in every way.

“There is no one who is a bigger fan of the Patriots than me,” Brady said. “I have nothing but total respect and love. I’m so grateful to Mr. Kraft, the organization and coach Belichick and all the coaches.”

But after signing a contract with the Bucs worth a reported $50 million over two years, he said he was ready to embrace a new challenge.

“This is an exciting moment for me in my life,” Brady said. “This is something obviously that’s very unique to me, it’s something that hasn’t happened in 20 years. So I’m kind of taking it day by day. The expectation for me is to come in and do what I feel is right for the organization, that’s to be a great team player.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

The Carolina Panthers confirmed their parting with quarterback Cam Newton, releasing their quarterback of nine years.

“Cam has meant a lot to this organization and the Carolinas,” general manager Marty Hurney said in a statement. “Everyone saw his performances on the field. I had the privilege of seeing how hard he worked off the field, and his commitment to this team when no one was watching.

“He willed this team to victory on many occasions and will always be considered one of the greatest players in the history of this franchise.”

The kind words come a week after Newton took the Panthers to task after the team seemed to indicate he had sought to be traded as the club finalized a deal for quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

“Stop with the word play!!” Newton, the 2015 NFL Most Valuable Player, wrote on Instagram. “I never asked for it!! There is no dodging this one. I love the Panthers to death and will always love you guys!!

“Please do not try and play me, or manipulate the narrative and act like I wanted this; you forced me into this!!”

As recently as January, Newton said he “absolutely” believed he would be in Carolina in the coming season.

In recent weeks the Panthers reportedly explored trade options with several teams, but no deal materialized for the 30-year-old Newton, who has dealt with a string of injuries.

After two shoulder surgeries in less than two years, he was sidelined much of 2019 with a left foot injury.

Newton, who had one year left on his contract and was owed $21.1 million, was the top pick in the 2011 NFL draft.

He was the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year that season and in 2015 led the Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance in which they were beaten by the Denver Broncos.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

The third fight in Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder’s heavyweight rivalry has been postponed as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic grips the United States and Britain, ESPN reported on Tuesday.

Britain’s Fury, who dethroned unbeaten WBC champion Wilder with a dominant victory in seven rounds last month, had been due to defend his crown in Las Vegas on July 18.

But promoter Bob Arum told ESPN on Tuesday the rematch had now been rescheduled until October at the earliest because of the COVID-19 outbreak which has brought the sporting world to a standstill.

With travel restrictions affecting both the US and Britain, and Las Vegas’ casinos shuttered, Arum said a postponement was the only sensible option.

“You could not guarantee the fighters that the event would take place on that date. We couldn’t convince them or ourselves,” Arum said.

“Where were they going to train for it? It just made no sense. You just have to take a step back. How are you going to sell tickets?

“It’s absolutely ridiculous to say the fight is on when the Brits can’t even get there.”

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has also banned all combat sports in the state, adding another complication.

“Everybody has to take a step back. Boxing is not isolated,” Arum said. “It’s part of what’s happening in the world. So possibly the fight will be in early October.”

Fury and Wilder fought to a thrilling draw in their first fight in Los Angeles in December 2018.

Fury then shocked the boxing world by overwhelming Wilder with a dominant performance in last month’s rematch, battering an out-of-sorts Wilder in a one-sided victory.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said Tuesday he’d reached an agreement to purchase the iconic Los Angeles Forum, eliminating a hurdle in his plan to build a new arena for his NBA team nearby.

Ballmer said the venue in the suburb of Inglewood would be purchased from Madison Square Garden Company by a newly created company called CAPSS LLC, a joint venture of Ballmer and Clippers vice chairman Dennis Wong.

The Forum, formerly the home of the Los Angeles Lakers, has been renovated since their move to Staples Center to be used largely as a concert venue and will remain so, Ballmer said.

The $400 million deal, which should close later this year, will also resolve legal challenges mounted by MSG against Ballmer’s plan for his new Clippers arena.

MSG had argued that the arena would be a competing venue to the Forum, and violate its operating agreements with the city of Inglewood.

The plan for the new facility calls for a privately-financed 18,000-seat “fan-focused” NBA arena, team headquarters and community center.

It must still be approved by local authorities.

The Clippers currently play at Staples Center, in downtown Los Angeles, along with the Lakers and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.

According to the announcement from CAPSS, all current Forum employees will be offered employment under the new owner.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

United States athletes welcomed the decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, exhaling a collective sigh of relief tinged with disappointment as they began to set their sights on 2021.

The deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has swept into all 50 states of America, leaving US athletes’ years of carefully choreographed Olympic training plans in tatters.

Powerhouse swimmer Katie Ledecky, expected to be one of the stars of the Tokyo Games, had been left without a pool to train in as restrictions in California shut down the Stanford University facilities.

Track and field star Noah Lyles — the reigning 200m world champion — had been denied regular access to a running track. Instead Lyles, who suffers from allergies and asthma, had been forced to train in a Florida park.

Lyles and Ledecky’s problems had become all too common for US athletes, who found themselves torn between the need to comply with local regulations restricting non-essential movement while simultaneously sticking to training regimens designed to help them prepare for Tokyo.

Lyles had no reservations about the decision to postpone the Games — and vowed to be ready for Tokyo in 2021.

‘Safety first’

“Straight up I’m tired of hearing I’m sorry like my puppy just died,” Lyles wrote on Twitter. “We will overcome this like everything else and then go win the Gold in 2021!”

US sprint star Allyson Felix, whose six Olympic golds are the most for any female track and field athlete, said the delay won’t halt her bid for a last share of Games glory.

“I am not sure what the future holds, but my goals have not changed,” she wrote in an article posted on Time.com.

“I still hope to experience the feeling of standing on that podium in 2021 and I hope my journey to try to get back there will inspire you to keep moving forward.”

In a later interview with NBC, Lyles said the safety of athletes was paramount.

“The last thing we want is for anybody to get sick,” Lyles told NBC. “I can train for another year, but if the whole world goes through a crisis and everybody gets sick, we won’t have an Olympics at all.”

Lyles had already achieved a qualifying standard to compete in Tokyo. But the 22-year-old believes many athletes would have missed out through not being able to train properly had the games gone ahead.

“It would have been very hard for a lot of us to even get a qualifying time,” he said.

Ledecky described an increasingly fraught hunt for facilities after her regular training pool at Stanford was closed.

She went seven days without putting a toe in the water, and finally swam over the weekend in a private pool in someone’s backyard.

“At certain points there were times we didn’t know if cancellation was still on the table or if there could be a postponement until the end of this year or some other time,” she told The Washington Post. “It’s good to have clarity now.

‘Sneaking around’

Ledecky’s US swimming teammate Nathan Adrian spoke of mixed emotions after learning of the postponement.

“Disappointment, obviously, because we’d be training for four years…but then the other side of the coin is relief,” said Adrian, 31, who had been targeting a fourth Olympic Games appearance.

Adrian, who underwent surgery for testicular cancer last year, is from Washington state, the initial epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in the US.

“My parents are still up there along with my brother and sister. And my parents are in the risk category. I feel guilty if I’m trying to go out and train, sneaking around trying to find a gray area that allows me to get into a pool or lift some weights,” he told NBC.

Other athletes took a defiant stance, immediately turning their attention to a Tokyo Olympics sometime in 2021.

“We train hard. We put our blood, sweat and tears into this,” said Emma Coburn, the 2017 women’s steeplechase world champion. “Our dreams are not cancelled, they are just postponed.”

Rai Benjamin, the 400m hurdles silver medalist at last year’s World Championships, acknowledged disappointment in a social media post.

“This was THE year. The work, the sacrifice, the determination, but I understand,” Benjamin wrote. “Everyone stay safe and Tokyo we’ll see you soon.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Japan’s media and athletes reacted with disappointment Wednesday to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but expressed relief the Games had not been cancelled altogether over the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The postponement, unprecedented in peacetime, came after heavy pressure from athletes around the world and followed an admission from Japan’s prime minister that a delay was now “inevitable”.

But there was still shock and disappointment in Japan, where the Games have been promoted as the “Recovery Olympics”, intended to showcase reconstruction after the devastating 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

The Nikkei business daily said Japan had avoided the worst-case scenario of a cancellation, but “it is like all the efforts of the last seven years are now back to square one”.

“It is inevitable that huge additional costs will emerge,” it added.

The Tokyo Shimbun headlined its coverage “surprise and embarrassment”, but conceded in an article that the situation left organizers and Olympic officials with few options.

“Choosing a one-year postponement was a decision taken by a process of elimination,” the paper said, with an Olympics this year seen as too risky and a longer delay to 2022 likely to be too expensive.

The newspaper expressed disappointment with the way the IOC handled the decision, clinging for weeks to the line that the Games could still open as scheduled on July 24, before reversing course.

“We didn’t see the strong leadership that had been hoped for,” the paper said.

Athletes in Japan said they were disappointed, but committed to training towards the rescheduled Games.

“Honestly speaking, my mind is still spinning,” sports climber Akiyo Noguchi wrote in a post on her Instagram page.

“But I’m taking it positively since I’ll be able to spend more time doing the sport I love,” added Noguchi, who plans to make the Tokyo Games her last Olympics.

“I will spend the time I have been given to be stronger both physically and mentally,” she added.

“For now, I hope the world will overcome this situation as soon as possible, and that the Olympics will be held in Tokyo.”

‘Best scenario’

Jun Mizutani, the 30-year-old Japanese table tennis player who competed at the Beijing, London and Rio Games, reacted lightheartedly to the news, tweeting a digitally aged photo of himself with the message: “I can do it”.

Athletes and sports associations around the world had pushed for the move given the effects the virus has had on everything from qualifiers to training, so the final decision was far from a shock.

“We were ready as the mood for postponement was growing,” Toshihisa Tsuchihashi of the Japan Tennis Association told the Nikkan sports daily.

“I think it’s a wise decision. I guess players will have mixed feelings, but I believe they will reset and do their best. I’ll support them.”

And Ichiro Hoshino, a senior director of the Japan Table Tennis Association, told the daily it had become clear that holding the Games this summer was impossible.

“But I also feel that it was good that it was not cancelled amid this serious situation,” he said.

“I’d say it will be good for athletes as (the situation) has become a little more predictable.”

Both the IOC and Japanese organisers and officials have insisted that cancellation is not on the table, with the goal now to hold the rescheduled Games by summer 2021 at the latest.

Under the circumstances, wrote the conservative Sankei Shimbun daily, the decision of a one-year postponement was “the best scenario.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Japan set about the unprecedented task of reorganizing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Wednesday after making the tough decision to postpone the Games by a year as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic locks down one third of the planet.

The dramatic step to shift the Olympics, never before seen in peacetime, upends every aspect of the organisation — including venues, security, ticketing and accommodation.

In a move symbolic of the difficulties now facing Tokyo, Olympic countdown clocks in the city switched from displaying the number of days to go, instead simply showing today’s date and the time.

“It’s like taking seven years to build the world’s biggest jigsaw puzzle and, with just one piece to go, having to start again but now with less time to finish,” tweeted Craig Spence, spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee.

It is not even clear exactly when the rescheduled Games will take place, with the International Olympic Committee saying the new date would be “beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021”.

Japan has framed Tokyo 2020 as the “Recovery Games” — a chance to show the world it has bounced back from the “triple disaster” in 2011 when a massive earthquake sparked a tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

The delayed event — still to be called Tokyo 2020 — will now be a “testament to mankind’s defeat of the new virus”, said Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

He repeated that message in a Wednesday call with US President Donald Trump, in which the leaders agreed the Games would be “proof that humans have beaten the new coronavirus”, a Japanese government spokesman said.

The Olympic flame “could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present”, Japan and the IOC said in a joint statement.

‘Way bigger than me’

The quadrennial Olympics, which has weathered boycotts, terrorist attacks and protests, is the highest-profile event affected by the virus that has killed thousands and postponed or cancelled sports competitions worldwide.

The IOC had come under fire for appearing out of touch by sticking to its schedule, but it eventually bowed to the inevitable, citing the need to protect the health of athletes.

Bach said the postponement was “about protecting human life”, with more than 11,000 athletes expected along with 90,000 volunteers, and hundreds of thousands of officials and spectators from all over the world.

US swimming star Ryan Lochte summed up the combination of disappointment and relief expressed by most athletes, after many had voiced anger at being asked to continue training during the pandemic.

“I was a little pissed off because I’ve been training my butt off and I’ve been feeling great,” the 12-time Olympic medallist told the Los Angeles Times.

“But this whole thing is way bigger than me,” Lochte added. “It’s way bigger than the Olympians, it’s affecting the entire world right now.”

There were similar feelings on the streets of Tokyo, which had won widespread praise for its preparations, with tickets in high demand and venues completed well ahead of schedule.

“It is disappointing for sure, but when you think about the health of athletes as well as spectators, I understand,” IT engineer Momoko Doku told AFP on the bustling Shibuya crossing.

“The new coronavirus is spreading so fast in the world, and this is a very serious issue internationally,” he said.

The Japanese media were also broadly supportive, although the Tokyo Shimbun daily screamed “surprise and embarrassment”.

“It is like all the efforts of the last seven years are back to square one,” the Nikkei business daily said.

‘Let us hope’

The Olympic torch relay, due to begin from Fukushima Thursday, has also been postponed but the flame will stay in the area until it is safe to begin.

Organizers now have to wrestle with a host of unanswered questions: are the venues still available? What to do with ticket-holders and volunteers? How to fit the Games into a crowded 2021 sporting schedule?

The athlete’s village was due to be renovated into more than 4,000 luxury apartments, hundreds of which have already been snapped up. Tens of thousands of hotel rooms will need to be cancelled and rebooked.

Japan and the organising committee were spending $12.6 billion on the Games and experts say they may need to spend around half that again to rearrange the event — before hopefully recouping the losses when the Olympics are held.

Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori, an 82-year former prime minister and cancer survivor, pointed to his own health battles as inspiration for the difficult times ahead.

“We have no choice but to have hope. I myself suffered cancer… But I was saved by a new drug. I am here, allowed to live.

“Let us hope for these things.”

Source: Manila Bulletin