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szdaily -> Sports -> 
Japan’s Asahi calls for Tokyo Olympic cancellation
    2021-05-27  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

JAPAN’S Asahi Shimbun newspaper yesterday called for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled with the Games set to open in less than two months.

It is the first of Japan’s major newspapers to make the move and joins some regional newspapers that have recently added to the growing opposition to holding the Olympics.

Coming out against the Olympics could be significant since the newspaper, like many in Japan, is a sponsor of the postponed Olympics that are to open July 23.

“We cannot think it’s rational to host the Olympics in the city this summer,” the newspaper said in its editorial under a headline that read: “We Demand PM Suga Decide Cancellation.”

“Distrust and backlash against the reckless national government, Tokyo government and stakeholders in the Olympics are nothing but escalating,” the editorial added. “We demand Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to calmly evaluate the circumstances and decide the cancellation of the summer event.”

Asahi has a morning circulation reported at 5.16 million, and 1.55 million for its evening edition. It is second in circulation behind Yomiuri Shimbun.

Despite the editorial, there is no indication the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or local organizers have any plans to pull the plug on the Games.

Senior IOC member Richard Pound said in an interview with Japan’s JiJi Press last week that the final deadline to call off the Olympics was still a month away.

“Before the end of June, you really need to know, yes or no,” JiJi quoted Pound as saying.

Organizers and the IOC, often citing the authority of the World Health Organization, say the Games can be held safely with 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes entering Japan, joined by tens of thousands of additional judges, officials, sponsors, broadcasters and media.

The British Medical Journal called last month for a hard look at going forward with the Olympics. Local medical officials have also been skeptical, and billionaire businessman Masayoshi Son suggested over the weekend that the IOC was forcing the Olympics on Japan.

“Right now, more than 80 percent of the nation’s people want the Olympics postponed or canceled,” Son said. The founder and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp, Son also owns the SoftBank Hawks baseball team.

“Who is forcing this to go ahead, and under what rights?” Son added.

(SD-Agencies)

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