Ipc Chief Vows Support For Next Year's Tokyo Games
The head of the International Paralympic Committee has pledged to actively prepare for next year's Tokyo Games while prioritizing measures to prevent coronavirus infections.
IPC President Andrew Parsons spoke to NHK as Monday marks a year until the opening of the postponed Paralympics.
Parsons said he believes the Paralympics are now even more important than before the pandemic.
Asked about the feasibility of next year's games, Parsons said it depends what happens with the pandemic, but that the IPC is planning for the games to go ahead.
He said his committee doesn't have set a date to decide whether to hold the event because of all the uncertainties and different scenarios they could face next year.
But he said that if it appears the games may have to be canceled, they will try to make the decision "at the last possible moment."
He said he imagined two possibilities -- that both the Paralympics and the Olympics will be held in Tokyo, or that neither of them will be.
He said the Paralympics movement "is something that the world needs, because it's a celebration of human diversity." He called it "the only event in the world that celebrates disability."
Parsons stressed the importance the games going ahead next year, adding that his committee believes Japan would still be the best host. He said his committee will throw its full support behind the games.
