High level delegation visit to Tokyo ahead of Oly postponed

A high level delegation visit from the Sports Ministry and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Olympics has been put on hold amid the ongoing global crisis around the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, IOA president Narinder Batra, secretary-general Rajeev Mehta were to be among officials comprising the delegations. Sports general secretary Radhey Shyam Jhulaniya, Sports Authority of India (SAI) director Sandeep Pradhan and Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh completed the delegation.

"The proposed visit of High Level Indian Delegation to Tokyo consisting of Govt Officials and Indian Olympic Association to review India's #Tokyo2020 preparation on 25th March is temporarily postponed," Rijiju said in a tweet on Sunday.

The coronavirus outbreak has wreaked havoc on the qualification calendar for various sports leading up to the Olympics. It has led to speculation around the fate of the Games itself.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and authorities in Tokyo however have thus far remained firm that the Olympics will go as planned with no postponement or cancellation coming up in official discussions thus far. IANS