NBA basketball player Rui Hachimura and the double world wrestling champion Yui Susaki will be the two flag bearers of the Japanese delegation at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23, announced this Monday the Japanese Olympic Committee.
“It is a great honor,” said the forward of the Washington Wizards
Rui Hachimura, 23, of a Japanese mother and a Beninese father.
Last May, Hachimura He asked for awareness in Japan about the problem of racism, saying that he himself received messages of insults “almost every day” on social networks.
Details about the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games They are still confidential, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it promises to be more sober than the disproportionate shows of previous editions and the number of spectators authorized to attend has not yet been set but could be very limited.
The organizers decided last June to allow the public to enter up to 50% of the capacity of each of the Olympic venues within a maximum limit of 10,000 people.
But last week, the Japanese prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, and organizers warned that the Games may be held behind closed doors amid a recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Tokyo.
The government is expected to extend restrictions in Tokyo and other departments across the country, which were originally scheduled to last until the end of this week, in the coming days.
These restrictions allow the presence of the public at sporting events, but within a maximum limit of 5,000 people.
The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics They had already surrendered in March to receive spectators from abroad, who will be banned from entering.
Despite this measure and the drastic restrictions planned for all participants, the Japanese population fears that the Games will spread the Covid-19 virus throughout the country.
Several positive cases for Covid-19 have already been detected among the participants in the Olympic Games upon their arrival in Japan in recent weeks. A member of the Serbian delegation tested positive this weekend upon arrival in Japan and another from the Uganda delegation who had also tested positive when he arrived and remained in isolation tested positive for the second time after completing his quarantine period.
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