Tag Archives: Tokyo 2020

Asian sweep at the Olympics?

Japan is having a very, very good time on the Olympic stage right now. Firstly, Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Olympics. They had always been the favorite, but had to allay growing fears that Fukushima’s ongoing nuclear nightmare would not have any long-lasting effects for the country (though, in truth, they may have been helped more by a combination of Spain’s dreadful employment record and Turkey’s heavy-handed government). It also means Asia will host back-to-back Olympic Games, following Pyeongchang in 2018.

Secondly, wrestling has been reinstated into the Olympic schedule. Much has changed since February when wrestling looked set to lose out, but Japan will benefit hugely from this. Not only do they sit fourth in the all-time medal table for Olympic wrestling (third if you take out the now-defunct Soviet team), but they won four gold medals in London last year, a total matched only by Russia.

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IOC Presidential hopefuls (clockwise from top left) Wu Ching-kuo (Taiwan), Denis Oswald (Switzerland), Sergei Bubka (Ukraine), Richard Carrión (Puerto Rico), Ng Ser Miang (Singapore), Thomas Bach (Germany). Photo credit: New York Times

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Weekly Wrap: Beckham and Not Beckham

A round-up of what’s been happening this week (Beckham stuff at the end!):

Basketball

The NBA announced eight international preseason games for next season. For Asian fans that means Pacers vs Rockets, Manila, Oct 10; Pacers vs Rockets, Taipei, Oct 13; Lakers vs Warriors, Beijing, Oct 15; and Lakers vs Warrior, Shanghai, Oct 18.

ImageMeanwhile, Li-Ning’s Way of Wade campaign (featuring Dwyane Wade, who has “promised” to play in China when hes done with the NBA) hits back at “corny” allegations from LeBron James.

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Wrestling’s Olympic snub: winners and losers

Wrestling has been in the Olympics for more than 2,600 years but looks almost certain to be axed from 2020 onwards after the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that wrestling no longer be included in the list of core sports. It has a final chance to save itself, but only one of baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding, wushu and now wrestling will be chosen for inclusion when the Committee meets again in May.

So who loses out and who will likely gain from this?

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Tokyo’s Olympic bid on track

12 years after China’s Olympic coming out party, Tokyo is aiming to be the next Asian city to host a Summer Olympics as one of three candidate cities for 2020. And the signs are looking good.

On September 7 in Buenos Aires, IOC President Jacques Rogge will declare victory for one of Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid, and, if the bookmakers are to be believed, Tokyo is the favorite, noticeably ahead of Istanbul and significantly ahead of Madrid.

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