Four minors test positive for dope, banned by NADA

New Delhi

Four minors, including two track and field athletes, have been placed under provisional suspension after they returned positive for banned substances in tests conducted by the National Anti-Doping Dope Agency (NADA). The two minor track and field athletes returned positive in the tests conducted during the 17th National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet last November in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. Both of them were handed provisional suspensions from January 21, NADA said. Of the other two, one is a boxer and one a volleyball player. The boxer returned positive in the test conducted during the 65th National School Games (U-14 boxing) Championship in November last year. The boxer was handed a provisional suspension on February 6. The volleyball player also returned positive following a test conducted during the National School Games last year and was provisionally suspended on January 31.

Tokyo

Japan Olympic Committee VP tests positive for Covid-19

Japan Olympic Committee deputy chief Kozo Tashima said today he had contracted coronavirus, as doubts increase over whether Tokyo can safely host the Summer Games. “Today, my test result showed positive for the new coronavirus,” Tashima said in a statement, issued via the Japan Football Association, also headed by him.

Tokyo

Olympics torch events in Japan downscaled

Tokyo 2020 organisers said they had taken the decision to scale back parts of the Olympic torch relay due to the coronavirus, but stressed that spectators would still be allowed to watch from the roadside. Chief executive Toshiro Muto said the “grand start” of the torch relay from the disaster-hit Fukushima province would take place without spectators “in order to prevent the spread of infections”. Any spectators who are feeling unwell will be asked not to watch from the roadside and torch-bearers with high temperatures will be barred from taking part. The Japan leg of the relay will kick off on March 26 from the “J-Village” sports complex, which was used as an operational base by workers scrambling to contain the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. — Agencies