Tokyo expects over 8 million footfall despite virus scare
Athens/Chennai: Greek Olympic shooting champion Anna Korakaki will be the first-ever woman to start the Olympic torch relay, the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) has announced even as Japan estimates over eight million of footfall to reach Tokyo during the Olympic Games 2020.
The committee has unanimously decided that Korakaki will be the first torchbearer during the Olympic Flame Lighting ceremony for the Tokyo Olympic Games on March 12 at the ancient Olympia, in western Greece, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Olympic Flame will be handed over by Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, who will be playing the role of an ancient Greek High Priestess, according to an e-mailed HOC press release.
The Olympic Flame will be ignited during a ritual ceremony using the sun’s rays inside the ancient stadium.
Korakaki won a gold and a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and was the world champion in 2018.
The last Greek torchbearer to carry the Flame inside the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens during the handover ceremony on March 19 will be another female athlete, Katerina Stefanidi, according to the press statement.
Meanwhile, Japan is not expecting any coronavirus impact at the upcoming Olympic Games and estimates over eight million foreigners to reach Tokyo during the prestigious quadrennial event, said a senior official of Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB).
So far, over 600 people have lost their lives in China due to coronavirus outbreak and more than 30,000 confirmed cases have been reported. “London got eight million overseas visitors during the Olympic Games when it was held last time (2012). We hope to cross that number,” Kazuomi Yamashita, Director of Marketing/Promotion, Tourist Promotion Officer, TCVB told reporters on Friday.
According to him, the coronavirus impact on Chinese visiting Japan is major. Chinese account for 30 per cent of the annual overseas travellers to Japan. In 2019, 31.88 million travellers visited Japan from overseas.
Last month, the organisers of the Tokyo Olympics had also stated that the Games, slated to begin from July 24, will not be cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak. “We have never considered cancelling the Games,” Tokyo 2020 had said in a statement. “We will work closely with the IOC and other relevant organisations and review any countermeasures whenever necessary.”
About 1.7 million Indian travellers visited Tokyo in 2019 logging a growth of 14.2 per cent over 2018 numbers, said Yamashita. (Agencies)