Olympics: Tokyo Organizers To Hold Talks With FINA This Week

Tokyo 2020 organizers plan to hold discussions with the International Swimming Federation (FINA) this week, a senior official said, after the federation said it was reviewing whether to hold the Olympics diving qualification event scheduled for this month.

“We are aware that they intend to cancel. On the other hand, we are still trying to confirm the details and we need to have further discussions with them,” Yasuo Mori, deputy executive director for the Tokyo 2020 Games Operations Bureau, said on Sunday.

“We want to hold talks with them about such details,” he told an online briefing after a weekend test event for wheelchair rugby.

Cancellation would be a setback for Tokyo organizers after they just restarted test events for the first time in over a year and need to test COVID-19 countermeasures for participants at venues.

Media reports said FINA had decided to cancel the April 18-23 final qualification round, which is also an official test event for the Games, which were postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BBC, citing a letter from FINA to national federations, said the event was canceled because the organizers’ planned COVID-19 precautions “will not properly ensure” the safety of athletes.

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