Tokyo Olympics Games To Be Held From July 23 To August 8 In 2021

Tokyo Olympic organizers have decided to organise 2020 Tokyo Olympics from July 23 to August 8 next year as per reports in local media. The dates were announced after an agreement was reached between the International Olympic Committee and local organizers. a report from Japan''s Kyodo News agency said. The mega sporting event was earlier scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9 this year in the Japanese capital.

Meanwhile, Athletes who had already qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before they were postponed will keep their places when the showpiece takes place in 2021, sources told AFP. Around 57 percent of the 11,000 scheduled participants for Tokyo Olympics had already made sure of taking part when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) pushed the Games back to 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The IOC and 32 international sports federations held a teleconference on Thursday where it was decided to respect the qualification process.

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"Thomas Bach (the IOC President) first explained the reasons for the postponement of the Games, then said that the athletes qualified for Tokyo 2020 would automatically be qualified for 2021," one of the participants in the conference told AFP. "One of the main subjects was to know when and how to organise the qualifications. In some federations, many sportsmen and sportswomen are not qualified and it takes at least three months for the Olympic Games to organise them."

Tourism Devastated

The shock postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has dealt a savage blow to Japan's hotels and tourism industry, already reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Many operators have seen bookings decimated by the virus and had been clinging to the hope that the Games would help them claw back this year's losses.

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"This is an enormous shock for us, with sales in many of our member hotels already down by half because of plunging demand for tourism, not only from abroad but also inside Japan due to the coronavirus," said Shigemi Sudo, secretary general of the Tokyo Hotels and Ryokans Association. "Many rooms are going to be cancelled, and it will be difficult to fill those empty rooms with new customers given the situation," he said.