Related News
Home » Sports » Gymnastics
World gymnastics champs to stay in Japan
Source: Agencies |
May 23, 2011, Monday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
TOKYO will hold the artistic gymnastics world championships in October as planned despite a lingering nuclear crisis overshadowing Japan's recovery from the ruinous March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
"The decision to maintain the Tokyo venue is founded on an evaluation of the current situation conducted by competent professionals in the field, and their subsequent conclusions," the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said in a release on their website (www.fig-gymnastics.com) following a meeting in San Jose, California.
The earthquake and tsunami left 28,000 people dead and sparked a partial meltdown at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, about 240 km northeast of Tokyo, causing radiation leaks and fanning fears of widespread contamination.
Engineers are still battling to control the crisis, branded the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, and which the plant's operator hopes to resolve by January.
Russia, who hosted the world figure skating championships last month after Tokyo abandoned its plans to stage the event, offered to host the October 7-16 gymnastics meeting, saying most European countries were unwilling to send teams to Japan out of health fears.
But a senior Japanese gymnastics official dismissed the Russian calls as scare-mongering in an interview, saying Tokyo was "completely safe" for athletes.
Japanese Gymnastics Association president Hidenori Futagi hailed the FIG's decision as "... a moving gesture of solidarity and encouragement for the Japanese people as a whole; a decision worthy of the international gymnastics family."
The disasters and ongoing nuclear crisis have thrown Japan's sporting calendar into chaos, forcing the professional baseball and soccer leagues to re-arrange their schedules and the scrapping of international golf and ice hockey events.
The International Triathlon Union also rescheduled Yokohama's round of the World Championship series to September from May.
"The decision to maintain the Tokyo venue is founded on an evaluation of the current situation conducted by competent professionals in the field, and their subsequent conclusions," the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said in a release on their website (www.fig-gymnastics.com) following a meeting in San Jose, California.
The earthquake and tsunami left 28,000 people dead and sparked a partial meltdown at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, about 240 km northeast of Tokyo, causing radiation leaks and fanning fears of widespread contamination.
Engineers are still battling to control the crisis, branded the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, and which the plant's operator hopes to resolve by January.
Russia, who hosted the world figure skating championships last month after Tokyo abandoned its plans to stage the event, offered to host the October 7-16 gymnastics meeting, saying most European countries were unwilling to send teams to Japan out of health fears.
But a senior Japanese gymnastics official dismissed the Russian calls as scare-mongering in an interview, saying Tokyo was "completely safe" for athletes.
Japanese Gymnastics Association president Hidenori Futagi hailed the FIG's decision as "... a moving gesture of solidarity and encouragement for the Japanese people as a whole; a decision worthy of the international gymnastics family."
The disasters and ongoing nuclear crisis have thrown Japan's sporting calendar into chaos, forcing the professional baseball and soccer leagues to re-arrange their schedules and the scrapping of international golf and ice hockey events.
The International Triathlon Union also rescheduled Yokohama's round of the World Championship series to September from May.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
