Governing Bodies
TOKYO 2020 FACES POSSIBLE CANCELLATION
Thomas Bach has acknowledged that Tokyo 2020 would be cancelled should the Olympic Games not be held in 2021, while the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President confirmed that different scenarios are being considered over the potential impact of coronavirus on the postponed event.
Bach made the comments in an interview with the BBC, nearly two months after Tokyo 2020 and the IOC announced the postponement of the Games until next year.
The rescheduled Olympic Games are due to take place from July 23 to August 8 in 2021, with the Paralympic Games following from August 24 to September 5.
Concerns remain over whether the multi-sport events will be able to take place due to the ongoing global health crisis, with more than five million coronavirus cases and 330,000 deaths now reported since the outbreak began.
Opinions have differed on whether a vaccine would be required for Tokyo 2020 to take place, with Japan Medical Association President Yoshitake Yokokura suggesting last month it would be hard to host the Games without this in place.
Bach has repeatedly sought to quell “speculation”, with the IOC President telling the BBC the organisation is relying on experts.
“For this question, we are relying on the advice of the World Health Organization,” he said.
“We have established one principle: to organise these Games in a safe environment for all the participants.
“Nobody knows what the world will look like in one year, in two months.
“So we have to rely on [experts] and then take the appropriate decision at the appropriate time based on this advice.”
Bach added that he understood Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe’s assessment that next year could be the “last option” to stage the Games.
“Quite frankly, I have some understanding for this, because you cannot forever employ 3,000, or 5,000, people in an Organising Committee,” said Bach.
“You cannot every year change the entire sports schedule worldwide of all the major federations.
“You cannot have the athletes being in uncertainty.
“You cannot have so much overlapping with a future Olympic Games, so I have some understanding for this approach by our Japanese partners.
“We have to be prepared for different scenarios.
“There is the clear commitment to having these Games in July next year.”
Bach said scenarios were being assessed regarding health measures, telling NBC Sports in a separate interview that the IOC needed to consider whether rules might be necessary to ensure access to Japan next year.
This could potentially involve quarantines for athletes and determining how many people would have access to venues.
Bach said these scenarios were part of the “mammoth task” of reorganising the Games, adding that decisions would be taken at an “appropriate time” after advice from experts.
The IOC President stressed the organisation did not want to hold the Games behind closed doors.
A total of $650 million (£535 million/€600 million) was set aside by the IOC last week to assist the organisation of the re-arranged Games, although Tokyo 2020 are still assessing costs related to the postponement.
The IOC also set aside an “aid package” of $150 million (£122 million/€137 million) last week to help International Federations (IFs).
This fund could be used to provide loans and advance payments on revenue shares from the postponed Tokyo 2020.
Donations could also be covered by the scheme and support will “come in different forms and will be decided after an assessment of needs and on a case-by-case basis”.
Association of Summer Olympic International Federations executive director Andrew Ryan told insidethegames that themoney eligible IFs receive from the IOC package will be “deducted from revenue shares at the end of next year”.
–insidethegames
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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