TOKYO: Canceling the 2020 Olympics is “unthinkable” although the classification of the coronavirus as a pandemic will likely have some impact on the Games, the Tokyo city governor said on Thursday. “It can’t be said that the announcement of a pandemic would have no impact… But I think cancellation is unthinkable,” Yuriko Koike told reporters. Doubts are increasingly being raised over whether the Olympics can be held as scheduled from July 24 to August 9. Koike vowed to work with the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organizers on what she described as a “global issue”, promising to devote her “utmost efforts” to holding the Games. But Mori dismissed that option, as did Japanese Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto, who told a parliament committee that postponing or canceling the Games was “inconceivable.”AFP

Source: Manila Times March 12, 2020 03:45 UTC