Anti-Olympic petition gains thousands of signatures
Tokyo, May 6: An online petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled has gained tens of thousands of signatures since being launched in Japan only days ago. The rollout of the petition comes with Tokyo, Osaka and several other areas under a state of emergency with coronavirus infections rising. The state of emergency is to expire on May 11, but some reports in Japan say it is likely to be extended. The postponed Olympics are to open on July 23. The petition is addressed to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, who has tentative plans to visit Japan later this month. Although 70-80% of Japanese citizens in polls say they want the Olympics canceled or postponed, there is no indication this will happen. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Tokyo organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto, and Bach have repeatedly said the games will go on as scheduled. The petition was organized by Kenji Utsunomiya, a lawyer who has run several times for Tokyo governor. It registered about 50,000 signatures in the first 24 hours after being launched. The petition suggests the Olympics cannot be held safely and says the games have drained finances away for other needs such as the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine. (AP)
Indian archers to miss World Cup following visa rejection
Kolkata, May 6: India’s Olympic-bound archers will not get to compete in the Stage 2 World Cup in Lausanne as their short-term visa application has been rejected by the Switzerland Embassy. India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India. The Indian archers will now directly compete in the Stage 3 World Cup in Paris which will be the last Olympic qualification event for the Indian women’s recurve team. The seven-day competition will begin on June 23. “Swiss Embassy did not allow any short term Visa and we had little time for the Stage 2 World Cup (May 17-23). Our focus is solely on the Paris World Cup now,” Archery Association, secretary general Pramod Chandurkar told PTI. (PTI)
Olympic-bound shooters, coaches, officials receive vaccine
New Delhi, May 6: Many shooters, coaches and officials from India’s Olympic-bound contingent received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine across cities on Thursday.The shooters were to get vaccinated before leaving for Zagreb, Croatia on May 11 to participate in the European Championship. Some of the members of the Indian team have already got their first dose of the vaccine last month, including pistol ace Manu Bhaker and rifle shooter Anjum Moudgil. As far as the national shooting team’s coaches are concerned, quite a few of them had themselves vaccinated last month. Before the Olympics, the Indian shooters will compete at the European Championship scheduled from May 20 to June 6 and the squad will stay back in Zagreb for training before directly leaving for Tokyo to participate at the Olympics. The squad will leave for Zagreb on a charter flight. (PTI)
Sterling racially abused following City’s semi-final win
London, May 5: Manchester City and England forward Raheem Sterling has been racially abused on Instagram less than 48 hours after English football’s social media boycott came to an end. The abuse was flagged up to Instagram by the Daily Mail and came in the wake of City’s Champions League semi-final victory over Paris St Germain, reports DPA. A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said: “The racist abuse sent to Raheem Sterling is unacceptable and we do not want it on Instagram. “We have removed the comment and taken action against the account that posted it. “As part of our ongoing work in this space, we’ll soon be rolling out new tools to help prevent people seeing abusive messages from strangers. “No single thing will fix this challenge overnight but we’re committed to doing what we can to keep our community safe from abuse.” Sterling has been the target of abuse on social media previously. (IANS)
Reigning TT world champion Liu Shiwen suffers twin losses
Xinxiang (China), May 6: Reigning world champion Liu Shiwen suffered two failures in one day and was ousted from both the women’s singles and mixed doubles quarter-finals at China’s table tennis Olympic simulation here on Wednesday. The 30-year-old player, partnering Xu Xin, was shown the door by compatriots Zhou Yu/Chen Xingtong in the mixed doubles event. The world No.7 singles player also suffered a straight-set defeat at the hands of world No. 6 Zhu Yuling, reports Xinhua. A record five-time World Cup winner and a member of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games women’s team championship-winning squad, Liu has been reckoned as a promising prospect at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, to be held in July-August. (IANS)
Bopanna-Shapovalov reach Madrid Open Masters quarters
Madrid, May 6: India’s Rohan Bopanna combined with his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov to stun top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in straight sets and reach the men’s doubles quarterfinals of Madrid Open Masters 1000 tournament here. This was the 41-year-old Bopanna’s first win on the ATP tour in 2021. The Indo-Canadian duo won their round of 16 match 6-3 6-4 on Wednesday. Bopanna and Shapovalov will take on German duo of Alexander Zverev and Tim Puetz in the quarter-finals. (PTI)
Kom without personal coach at national boxing camp
New Delhi, May 6: Six-time world champion and Olympic-bound boxer MC Mary Kom won’t have personal coach Chhote Lal Yadav by her side at the women’s national boxing camp after he tested positive for Covid-19. The camp is supposed to start in Pune this week. Yadav is undergoing a 15-day quarantine at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. “I’ve given Mary Kom all the details of how to maintain fitness during her seven days in quarantine in Pune,” the coach told IANS. Mary Kom, Simranjit Kaur, Lovlina Borgohain and Pooja Rani are the four women boxers who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. (IANS)