Allardice added that, as far as the ICC is concerned, it's "not a money-making exercise" for the global cricket governing body, but the move was to make respective governments stakeholders in the growth of the sport in their countries.
Women's Twenty20 cricket has been included at the 2022 Commonwealth Games at Birmingham following on from the men's competition at the Kuala Lumpur CWG in 1998.
"In many of our members, being seen as an Olympic sport and having an association with the government and the national Olympic movement is something that is going to be really beneficial in terms of facilities and high-performance assistance," Allardice told SEN's This Is Your Journey on Sunday.
"It's certainly not a money-making exercise from our point of view, it's about getting exposure for cricket in markets where we may not be popular.
"And the other one is about giving all of our 106 members the opportunity to engage more closely with their governments. In some countries, being an Olympic sport gets you closer to your government than not being an Olympic sport."
India's ace sprinter Dutee Chand from Odisha shared the challenges she faced both in her professional as well as personal life during PM Modi’s interaction with Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian athletes’ contingent. Dutee said that she is prepared for the games.
Among others, the PM spoke to iconic boxer MC Mary Kom, badminton ace PV Sindhu, talented shooters Saurabh Chaudhary, Elavenil Valarivan and veteran table tennis player A Sharath Kamal during a virtual interactive session.
"Don't be bogged down by expectations, just give your best," Modi said in the interaction.
Offering his personal touch, Modi also spoke to the parents of Sindhu and lauded them for backing their daughter during her journey to success.
India To Send 228-Strong Contingent To Tokyo Olympics, 119 Athletes In It
India will be sending a 228-strong contingent to the Tokyo Olympics, including 119 athletes, IOA President Narinder Batra said on Tuesday.
Out of the 119 athletes, 67 are male and 52 female participants, Batra said during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interaction with Olympic-bound athletes.
"The total Indian contingent for Tokyo Olympics will be 228. There will be 67 male athletes and 52 female athletes. We are fighting for 85 medal events," Batra said in the virtual interaction.
This will be India's largest-ever contingent of athletes at the Olympics.
"The first contingent will leave for Tokyo on July 17. It will have 90 athletes and officials in total."
“Since it was one last chance to make the cut for the Olympics, the players wilted under pressure. Instead of staying calm and playing their natural game the fencers became a bit error prone that spoiled their chances,” a national level coach told IANS.
The two-day tournament, held last weekend, offered six quota places, including three in the women’s category for the Tokyo Olympics.
According to the coach, two fencers — Sunil Kumar and Radhia Avati — entered the quarterfinals of their respective events while other three bowed out in the first round.
“Sunil gave a good account of himself in the epee event. He was leading in his quarterfinal match, but lost three vital points in the closing stages of the tournament to bow out,” he said.
Radhia too reached the quarterfinal stage in the women’s foil event. “We were expecting Karan Singh to reach the semis of men’s sabre event. But he too went out early in the Asian tournament,” said the national team coach.
The Asian Olympic qualifiers was the last chance for Indians to make the cut for the Olympics scheduled to start on July 23.
Last month, India’s Bhavani Devi had won the Olympics quota place in the sabre event in Italy. She is the only Indian fencer to have won a ticket for the Olympics.
The winners of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha will qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The winners will be determined as follows: teams will be ranked according to the number of points each has accumulated in both matches (for each match, 3 points are awarded to the winner, 1 point to each team in the event of a draw and 0 point to the loser). If there is equality among the two teams, then the teams will be ranked according to their respective goal difference. If the equality remains, a shoot-out competition will be played to establish the winner. Therefore, the objective of both the teams will be to secure direct qualification for the Tokyo 2020 hockey tournaments - which will be staged in Japan's capital city from 25 July to 7 August next year and involve 12 Men's and 12 Women's teams.
The Indian women's team has played their opponents USA on eight occasions since 2014, registering one win which came in the Tests held in 2016.
Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne spoke highly of his current side, and said that they are ready for the test. "We are really excited to play. These are the two matches we have looked forward to and worked on for a whole year. We are ready for the challenge," stated the Dutchman.
Skipper Rani further added, "After missing out on qualifying at the Asian Games, we decided to shift our focus on to the Olympic Qualifiers. Regardless of who our opponent would be, we trained the entire year for these two matches and now we are looking forward to bring our best."
Kathleen Sharkey, USA Captain, stated: "I have seen India improve over the years and every match we have played against them, it has been close and the fight is intense. We are expecting a good challenge from them. These past few days here have been good for us to get used to the weather."
One low-ranking wrestler who had a fever last week has tested positive for the virus, the association said, declining to name the man or give details of his stable.
The association said no other wrestlers or officials had symptoms and those who belong to the infected wrestler's stable will stay home or at the stable and follow advice from health officials.
The outbreak in Japan has been smaller than in many countries, with more than 5,300 cases and 88 deaths confirmed so far, but the government this week declared a state of emergency in seven regions, and the sumo association said it was adapting too.
Also Read: COVID-19 Lockdown: Odisha Youth Cycles Over 1000 Kilometres From Pune To Reach Home
The association has not called off daily training but new instructions include requiring wrestlers to take their temperatures twice a day.
The "tokoyama" responsible for styling wrestlers' hair into their signature oiled topknots have been asked to avoid public transportation when coming to stables, a spokesman said.
A young wrestler at a Tokyo stable confirmed daily training was continuing as usual but said activities were limited.
"We wear masks where possible, wash hands, disinfect hands... We have been taking normal prevention measures," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We don't visit other stables to practice. We have been practising in our stable only."
"We go out only for (grocery) shopping... Stress is building up in many people," he added.
News of the infected wrestler came a week after the association postponed two sumo tournaments scheduled for later this year.
The next sumo "basho" or tournament, scheduled to open on May 10 in Tokyo, has been delayed by two weeks. The July basho in Nagoya suffered the same fate.
Tokyo's basho is expected to begin on May 24 but tickets have yet to go on sale over concerns about a further postponement or cancellation.
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The spring basho, held last month in Osaka, took place without spectators, with wrestlers surrounded by just a handful of judges in the empty arena.
But it was broadcast live on national TV, where viewers could hear sounds normally drowned out by the crowd, including wrestlers slapping their bellies and scraping their feet on the clay ring.
Some rituals were amended, including the traditional ladle of water that a winning wrestler offers to the next in the ring.
On the other hand, the chief executive of the Tokyo Games said Friday he can't guarantee the postponed Olympics will be staged next year even with a 16-month delay.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued an emergency declaration this week to battle the virus, putting the country under restrictions after it seemed it had avoided the spread.
I don't think anyone would be able to say if it is going to be possible to get it under control by next July or not," Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said, speaking through an interpreter at a news conference conducted remotely.
We're certainly are not in a position to give you a clear answer." The Olympics were postponed last month with a new opening set for July 23, 2021, followed by the Paralympics on Aug. 24.
Abe has been criticized for being slow to act against the coronavirus. Opposition political leaders have suggested he downplayed the severity of the virus and have said it may have been tied to wanting to hold the Olympics this year.
We have made the decision to postpone the games by one year," Muto added.
Also Read: Hockey India Donates Twenty One Lakh Rupees To Odisha Chief Minister’s Relief Fund
So this means that all we can do is work hard to prepare for the games. We sincerely hope that come next year mankind will manage to overcome the coronavirus crisis. Muto was asked if there are alternative plans to 2021.
Rather than think about alternatives plans, we should put in all of our effort, he said.
Mankind should bring together all of its technology and wisdom to work hard so they can development treatments, medicines and vaccines. Japan has reported about 5,000 cases and 100 deaths. The country has the world's oldest population, and COVID-19 can be especially serious for the elderly.
Muto was asked several times about the added costs of postponing, which has been estimated by Japanese media at between 2 billion- 6 billion. He said it was too soon to know the price tag and who would pay.
He also acknowledged that Tokyo Olympic organizers had taken out insurance.
Tokyo 2020 has taken out several insurance policies," he said.
But whether the postponement of the games qualifies as an event that is covered is not clear yet."
He was also asked about the Olympic flame, which was taken off public display this week in Fukushima prefecture. Muto had an away-from-the-microphone talk with Tokyo spokesman Masa Takaya before talking about the flame.
After the Olympic torch relay was canceled, the Olympic flame was put under the management of Tokyo 2020," Muto said.
Obviously in the future there is a possibility it might be put on display somewhere. However, for now it is under the management of Tokyo 2020 and I'm not going to make any further comment on the issue."
There are suggestions the International Olympic Committee is thinking of taking the flame on a world tour, hoping to use it as a symbol of the battle against the virus.
However, any tour would be impossible until travel restrictions are lifted.
Taking the flame away from Japan could also upset the hosts.
(With Agency Inputs)
"Continental qualification events in the Americas, Europe and Oceania are delayed until spring/summer 2021," said World Archery. "The final qualification tournament is delayed until summer 2021 and is planned to take place as a separate tournament alongside the Paris stage of the 2021 Archery World Cup."
World Archery also said that National Olympic Committees (NOC) will retain quotas that have been won thus far by athletes in competitions. Eighty-seven of the 128 quota places for the Olympics have already been awarded. Ninety-three of the 140 spots for the Paralympics have been distributed to date.
The deadline for NOCs to confirm places won at all events except the final qualifier is tentatively set as June 1, 2021 and for the final qualifier "is tentatively set as July 2, 2021."
"The entry deadline for the Olympic Games is 5 July 2021," it added.
The procedures were initially released in March 2018 but had to be updated after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic. Originally set to be held from July 24 to August 9, 2020, the Games will now be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
Kenya Olympic Body Turns To Online Conferencing
As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to ground sporting activity around the world, the National Olympic Committee-Kenya (NOCK) has turned to online conferencing to keep in touch with athletes during this crisis period.
The inaugural conference, titled 'Emotional Intelligence,' which covered understanding and dealing with the social and personal effects of COVID-19 saw Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalist Julius Yego and Paul Tergat, NOCK president and two-time Olympic silver medal-winner, discuss issues related to the pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.
"We are in a different territory that we have never been before. This pandemic has hit us hard and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. As NOCK, our aim is to keep in touch with our sportsmen and women and give them the necessary advice through our experts," Tergat said in Nairobi on Friday.
"This pandemic has greatly affected sports and the postponement of the Olympics no doubt has mentally affected our athletes," he added.
The NOCK chief said the umbrella body of federations in Kenya will seek collaboration with the government through the Ministry of Sports and other corporations to help out vulnerable athletes whose income depends on sports.
Amina Mohamed, Cabinet Secretary for Sports, on Friday signed off on trucks with food donated by a private firm to be delivered to athletes in need to supplement the relief funds rolled out by World Athletics last week.
Since the pandemic hit Kenya, the government has suspended all public gatherings, affecting hundreds of athletes with training camps closed.
During the same conference, local tennis coach Rosemary Owino challenged athletes to observe discipline while undergoing individual training.
"It's okay to be stressed, get negative, but most important is to curb it and build on it. Discipline levels of the athletes are highly tested at the moment and this includes whether they are able to train on their own without being followed," Kenya's Davis Cup team coach Owino added.
(IANS)
The IOC Executive Board on Monday decided to "exclude the currently elected members of the executive board of the NOC of Belarus from all IOC events and activities, including the Olympic Games", read a statement on the IOC website.
"This includes, in particular, Mr. Alexander Lukashenko in his capacity as NOC President and legal representative of the NOC, Mr. Viktor Lukashenko in his capacity as NOC First Vice President and the person responsible for the NOC's operations and activities on a daily basis and Mr. Dmitry Baskov in his capacity as NOC executive board member," it added.
The IOC further said that it has come to the conclusion that it appears that the current leadership has not appropriately protected the Belarusian athletes from political discrimination within the NOC, their member federations or the sports movement.
"This is contrary to the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter therefore seriously affecting the reputation of the Olympic movement," the statement read.
The IOC also decided to suspend all financial payments to the NOC of Belarus, with the exception of payments related to the preparations of the Belarusian athletes for, and their participation in, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
(IANS)