Tokyo 2020 in New Push For Baseball/Softball -- Federations Focus

(ATR) Tokyo 2020 organizers are leaving no stone unturned in efforts to get baseball and softball back into the Summer Games.

A conference with NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball), BFJ (Baseball Federation of Japan) and JSA (Japan Softball Association) on July 12 has led to a combining of forces to iron out some issues ahead of the vote to add five new sports for 2020 at the IOC general meeting on the eve of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said, "We would like to cope with this [problem] with a single purpose".

The choice of venue, scheduling and whether Major League Baseball (MLB) players will participate are three of the issues to be resolved.

Tokyo 2020, along with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), will consult and inspect possible venues. An official decision is expected at a Tokyo 2020 board of directors meeting scheduled on July 25. Baseball and softball are to play in the same stadium.

As for scheduling, Japan professional baseball team owners agreed on July 11 that the domestic baseball season would take a break during the Tokyo Games, which run from July 24 to August 9, 2020.

Whether MLB will stop its season has yet to be decided. Tokyo 2020 organizers did say that NPB commissioner Katsuhiko Kumasaki has asked his MLB counterpart Rob Manfred to allow requested MLB players to take part.

Manfred, quoted by the Associated Press this week, said"from a calendar prospective, the dates of the Tokyo Games are not ideal" .

Manfred says he wants to meet with the WBSC to get a better understanding of what would be required of MLB and its players before reaching a final decision.

Japan Commits to World Rugby Head Injury Standards

Prior to staging the Rugby World Cup in 2019, host country Japan is doubling down on player safety in its top rugby league. Beginning next season, organizers of rugby in Japan confirm the Head Injury Assessment (HIA) will be standard at all competitions.

World Rugby held medical courses in Japan with 24 match-day medics and team doctors across Asia to prepare them for the health standards being implemented for the 2019 World Cup.

The courses lasted throughout the week and focused on immediate pitch-side care, particularly concerning important concussion management training to promote consistency and best-practice at the elite and community levels.

The new method of detecting concussions is referred to as "Recognize and Remove" to ensure that players sustaining concussions cannot cause further damage to themselves by returning to competition.

"This is essentially capacity building along the road to Rugby World Cup 2019 to ensure that minimum standards are applied in Japan as we look to develop a team of medics who could operate at Japan 2019," said World Rugby head of technical services Mark Harington.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup will be held in Tokyo from Sep. 20 to Nov. 2.

Badminton World Federation Opens New Website

The Badminton World Federation is bringing its fans news, live scores, photos and more from the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympics with the launch of its new Olympic website.

Fans can now follow along with the action from the Summer Games in Brazil with comprehensive coverage in all five badminton disciplines from the group stages to the medal round.

The new website also provides highlights from badminton tournaments in previous Summer Games since the sport’s debut at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. The story of badminton’s quest to join the Olympic program can also be found on the site.

"We have carved out this niche for badminton fans who want to keep track of the Rio 2016 results and what’s happening with their favorite players," says BWF secretary general Thomas Lund. "We anticipate this portal will be the gateway to a great fan experience during the Rio 2016 Olympics and we look forward to delivering this to our growing global fan base."

The badminton tournament in Rio begins Aug. 11 and will conclude on Aug. 20.

Written by Hironori Hashimotoin Tokyo and by Kevin Nutley

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