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Amid the large number of canceled sports shows around the world last year, failed attempts to restart in empty stadiums crippled events, and the success of an experimental bubble, the biggest question for 2021 is “Will the Games be rescheduled? Tokyo Olympics, initially scheduled for mid-2020 – at the height of a deadly global pandemic, finally see the light this July? “
The senior lords of the International Olympic Committee and their counterparts in the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games hope so, and both have expressed confidence that the lives and safety of 15,000 athletes from more than 200 countries, not to mention to hundreds of thousands of viewers, they won’t be put at risk in what could be a catastrophic super-spreader event.
On a recent visit to Tokyo, Thomas Bach, IOC President, told Time magazine: “Japan has really been planning very diligently and the IOC, on our side, will work very closely with the National Olympic Committees, and with the athletes and officials, so we have our countermeasures package from both partners. “
Here, the newly re-elected president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, Bambol Tolentino, and the president of the Philippine Sports Commission, Butch Ramírez, are joining forces to increase the number of Filipino athletes bound for the Olympic Games after the gymnast Carlos Yulo, the pole vault EJ Obiena and the boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and the Irishman Magno made the grade through qualifying tournaments.
Among others hoping to join the flight to Tokyo through rescheduled qualifiers are skater Margie Didal, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, track athletes Kyla Richardson and Willie Morrison, cyclists Ariana Dormitory and Daniel Caluag, and boxer Nesthy Petecio.
The arrival of COVID-19 vaccines could help allay fears of a massive infection in a big way, though recent reports of an apparent mutated variant of the virus have sparked new concerns.
Let the Games begin!
Vietnam SEA Games on deck
Looking closely at developments in the coming months and how the organizers of the Tokyo Games would carry out the gigantic task, if the Olympic flame is lit on July 23, there will be the Olympic Council of Asia, as Hanoi will host the the 31st Southeast Asian Games. from November 21 to December 2.
Just 36 sports are expected to be played in the biennial match with the participation of 11 nations, led by reigning overall champion the Philippines.
Behind the battle cry ‘We won as one’, the host of the 30th SEA Games in 2019 hosted 5,630 athletes from the region who fought the war in 530 events from a record 56 sports.
And before the dust settled, the Philippines closed the overall championship with 149 gold, 117 silver and 121 bronze – wild numbers that national athletes would likely find Herculean to double or even approximate given the nature of the variable format of the Games they generally favor. to the host country.
Vietnam’s sports officials have been adamant in their insistence to run only Olympic and Asian Games sports this time around, and the change could dramatically affect the Philippines’ bid to retain the overall title, or even achieve a decent finish.
However, Tolentino does not give up the fight even as he reflects on the realities.
“It will be difficult for us to keep the title because of that problem about the number and type of sports that will be played,” he said. “But I can’t let our team plummet to sixth or seventh again. [like it did] before winning the overall in 2019. “
No more PBA bubbles?
It held and did not burst in those eight weeks or more, that bubble. But as successful as it was, the Philippine Basketball Association nonetheless isn’t looking to live life in another carpeted and air-conditioned Alcatraz, even if it has a gym, golf course and night service.
Designed for April 9, 2021, the PBA’s 46th season is scheduled to follow the celebrated bubble experiment in Clark, Pampanga, where Barangay Ginebra San Miguel battled TNT Tropang Giga in five games during the Cup Finals. from the Philippines, which marked the end of a shortened 45 season.
For more than two months, a 350-man PBA delegation, along with five men from the media, settled at the Quest Hotel in Clark, and took them by bus to the University Foundation Sports and Cultural Center. Angels and came back during game days.
The next PBA season will have a fundamental difference.
Instead of a bubble, the league plans to implement a ‘closed-loop format’.
“The closed-loop concept is more forgiving, requiring a home-place-home scheme, not a one-place confinement for the entire delegation as we did at Clark,” said PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial, who noted of the mental anguish endured By all.
“I saw that the players and coaches had a hard time, especially in the first month,” said Marcial.
The proposed closed-circuit arrangement will limit teams’ movements from their homes to playing venues or practice facilities and vice versa, eliminating astronomical transportation and food and lodging expenses and giving club staff access to their immediate families. unlike during his stay at Clark.
However, fans remain off-limits at playing venues and training facilities.
Qualifiers for the FIBA Asia Cup
So back to Clark they go.
Chosen by the International Basketball Federation to host the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, which will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia, in August, the Philippines will host Group A and Group C games late next month at the Cultural Center and Deportivo from the University of Angeles Foundation. retracing the path of the bubble conference opened by the PBA a few weeks ago.
The country will host Group A action with Gilas Pilipinas taking on South Korea twice, outside of Indonesia and Thailand.
Group C nations Australia, New Zealand, Guam and Hong Kong will also compete in the AUF gymnasium, with Quest Hotel in Clark as accommodation.
“Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas is honored and honored to be chosen as one of the hosts of the last round of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers next February,” SBP President Al Panlilio said in a statement. .
“We are grateful for FIBA’s confidence in our ability to host not only a successful tournament but, more importantly, a safe one. We are happy to have met your health standards and look forward to welcoming Korea, Indonesia and Thailand, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Guam and Hong Kong from Group C. “
Two weeks ago, SBP CEO Sonny Barrios led a group that included Gilas’s coach, Jong Uichico, in conducting a visual inspection of both the playing venue and the resident hotel.
Other events could follow
If run smoothly, the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers could open the doors a fraction of an inch to allow other postponed events to start this year.
The Asian indoor martial arts tournament is scheduled for May 21-30 in Bangkok and Chonburi in Thailand, the AIBA world boxing championships in April in Belgrade, Serbia, and a series of Olympic qualification events.
At the local level, the country’s top college leagues, the NCAA and UAAP, canceled last year’s regular season pitches, but have struck deals with separate television partners for planned restarts in 2021 in case health regulators the government give the green light.
Also available to draw the curtains are athletics (National Open in New Clark City in March), boxing, online chess, professional volleyball and professional American football and several others that would come out of the woods once they get approved. to do it. .
Overall, 2021 could be when humanity resuscitates hopes for a return to a new normal, not just in sports but also in the economy, global awareness of threats to health and the preservation of life.
Unless a virulent threat refuses to come down and stay.
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