IOC Member Dick Pound’s Statement on Tokyo 2020 Not Official: IOA
IOA responded after IOC member Dick Pound said that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be postponed due to coronavirus.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has stated that no decision regarding the postponement of Tokyo Games, slated to start from 24 July, has been made as of now by the International Olympic Association (IOC) and it will be done only in four weeks time.
"We have not received any official document from IOC (regarding postponement of Games)," IOA General Secretary Rajeev Mehta told IANS.
This response from IOA came after IOC member Dick Pound stated that the 2020 Summer Games will be postponed by one year because of coronavirus.
Olympic Won’t Start on 24 July: IOC Member
In an interview to USA today, Pound said: "On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided."
"It will come in stages. We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense," he added.
On Monday, Mehta had said that the IOA will wait for at least a month before taking any decision regarding sending athletes to Tokyo for the Olympic Games.
Chairman of the British Olympic Association has said Great Britain would be unlikely to send a team to Tokyo this summer while Australia and Canada have already said they will not compete in Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)