Fraccari says “Olympic baseball and softball in Japan would be the biggest and most exciting global competition in the history of our sport, and would help the Olympic Games touch the entire host nation and worldwide community”.
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“We want to make sure any targeted athletes who have a positive result will be stopped from competing in Rio”, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
“This is no public health risk with Zika” that would warrant postponing or moving the games, Nuzman said.
Andrada said Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes gave assurances the velodrome would be “up and running” by the end of the month.
An Olympic stakeholder meeting in June will co-ordinate the approach among worldwide federations, which take the first decision of the eligibility of athletes with respect to qualification for and participation in the Olympic games.
He also said the mosquito-borne Zika virus, linked to birth defects, would not be a threat. It shows how the rate of infection “drops dramatically” from June to September, Andrada said.
The IOC has already sent experts to Brazil to work with the organizers. We didnt know they were going to be doing that.
“We planned to make the presentation (for the new sports). but the International Olympic Committee took the decision when I was up in the clouds travelling from Tokyo”, Mori, a former prime minister, told reporters.
The IOC Executive Board has announced its support for the inclusion of karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and baseball/softball at the Tokyo Games.
Olympic organizers downplayed the health risk of Zika, presenting the IOC’s ruling board with information created to allay fears about the virus.
Bid leaders have acknowledged making payments, before and after the International Olympic Committee vote in 2013, totaling about $2 million to a Singapore company linked to Papa Massata Diack, son of former IAAF President Lamine Diack.
The younger Diack is the subject of an Interpol wanted notice.
Baseball and softball, which have been out of the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Games, made a joint bid for inclusion in Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered plans for Tokyo’s Olympic stadium to be scrapped amid public anger over its $2 billion price tag, while Games organisers were forced to ditch their original emblem after accusations of plagiarism.
Tokyo organizing committee chief Yoshiro Mori tells reporters the issue was not discussed – “not at all” – in the meeting with the IOC board.
As part of sweeping reforms initiated in 2014, Olympic hosts can bring in sports popular in their countries to boost ratings and attract greater sponsorship as well as a younger generation of fans.
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Temer was named interim president after Brazil’s Senate voted overwhelmingly in favour of suspending Dilma Rousseff from office for 180 days and subjecting her to an impeachment trial on charges of budget irregularities. Rio organizing chief Carlos Nuzman said the International Olympic Committee had “no questions, no concerns” over the political crisis.
