Washington, United States:
US President Joe Biden on Friday gave his backing to Japan’s efforts to hold a “safe and secure” Olympic Games this year immediately after speak of cancelation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, meeting Biden as the US president’s initially foreign guest, stated his nation was listening to authorities and undertaking its “utmost” to prepare for the Tokyo Games.
“They are doing everything possible to contain infection and to realize safe and secure games from scientific and objective perspectives,” Suga told a joint news conference.
“I expressed my determination to realize the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games as a symbol of global unity this summer, and President Biden once again expressed his support,” the prime minister added.
A joint statement afterward stated that Biden “supports Prime Minister Suga’s efforts to hold a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.”
“Both leaders expressed their pride in the US and Japanese athletes who have trained for these Games and will be competing in the best traditions of the Olympic spirit,” the statement stated.
The Tokyo Games are due to open in July, with only Japanese spectators in the stands, immediately after currently becoming postponed by a year due to the pandemic.
Uncertainty about their viability has grown amid increasing virus circumstances.
Organizers stated Friday that they scrapped a different leg of Japan’s Olympic torch relay — the third leg to be impacted by a surge in infections — and that a BMX Freestyle test occasion scheduled for April 24 and 25 would now be postponed.
A prime official from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiro Nikai, triggered a stir on Thursday by saying that Japan might need to have to cancel the Olympics, which have grow to be increasingly unpopular amongst the Japanese public.
“If infections spread because of the Olympics, I don’t know what the Olympics is for,” stated Nikai, the party’s second-most highly effective figure.
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