Four-time GS winner joined fellow Japanese Nishikori in raising concerns, with Tokyo under a Covid state of emergency
\nJapanese superstar Naomi Osaka admitted she was \u201cnot really sure\u201d the coronavirus-hit Tokyo Olympics should go ahead as doubts grew about the Games just weeks before the opening ceremony.
\nThe four-time tennis Grand Slam winner joined fellow Japanese player Kei Nishikori in raising concerns, with Tokyo and other parts of Japan under a coronavirus state of emergency.
\nA top politician also warned that Japan still had to make a \u201ccareful decision\u201d about whether to hold the Games, which have scant public support according to opinion polls.
\nScrapping the 2020 Olympics, postponed last year as the pandemic advanced, is a concept that has never been gone away, despite repeated assertions from officials that they will proceed.
\nA survey by a leading Japanese daily released on Monday found 59 percent of respondents want the Olympics cancelled, underlining persistent public concerns over the risk of infections.
\nOsaka, Japan\u2019s biggest sports star and a major gold-medal prospect, said \u201cto be honest, I\u2019m not really sure\u201d, when asked if the Olympics should take place as planned.
\n\u201cI\u2019m an athlete, and of course my immediate thought is that I want to play in the Olympics,\u201d the four-time Grand Slam winner told the BBC.
\n\u201cBut as a human, I would say we\u2019re in a pandemic, and if people aren\u2019t healthy, and if they\u2019re not feeling safe, then it\u2019s definitely a really big cause for concern.\u201d
\nNishikori said there \u201cdefinitely should be a discussion\u201d on whether Tokyo should plough ahead with the Olympics.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what they are thinking, and I don\u2019t know how much they are thinking about how they are gonna make (a) bubble, because this is not like 100 people like these tournaments,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s 10,000 people in the village and playing tournaments. So I don\u2019t think it\u2019s easy, especially (with) what\u2019s happening right now in Japan. It\u2019s not doing good.\u201d
\nAmerica\u2019s Serena Williams, who has 23 Grand Slam titles — one off the all-time record — as well as four Olympic golds, said she was yet to commit to Tokyo. \u201cI haven\u2019t spent 24 hours without her (three-year-old daughter Olympia) so that kind of answers the question itself,\u201d she said at the WTA tournament in Rome.
\n\u201cI haven\u2019t really thought much about Tokyo, because it was supposed to be last year and now it\u2019s this year, and then there is this pandemic and there is so much to think about.\u201d
\nAthletes until now have largely stayed quiet about the Olympics, in contrast to last year when there was a welter of complaints before the historic postponement in March.
\nA series of test events have been cancelled, postponed or held behind closed doors, underlining the challenges facing organisers.
\nHowever, Olympic officials insist the Games can still be held safely and have released rulebooks they say will ensure the biggest international event since the pandemic does not spread the virus.
\nOn Monday, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach was forced to cancel a visit to Japan planned for this month, after the state of emergency was extended last week.<\/p>\n
Toshihiro Nikai, number two in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Japan needed to take advice from \u201cOlympic experts\u201d before deciding whether to hold the Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cA careful decision will be necessary in the future,\u201d he said late on Monday, according to the Jiji Press news agency.<\/p>\n
He was speaking after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who came to power in September, insisted he has \u201cnever put the Olympics first\u201d, stressing his priority is \u201cthe lives and health of the Japanese people\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Four-time GS winner joined fellow Japanese Nishikori in raising concerns, with Tokyo under a Covid state of emergency Japanese superstar Naomi Osaka admitted she was \u201cnot really sure\u201d the coronavirus-hit Tokyo Olympics should go ahead as doubts grew about the Games just weeks before the opening ceremony. The four-time tennis Grand Slam winner joined fellow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n