Tokyo Olympics 2021: Kiren Rijiju calls rules for Indian players 'discriminatory'

Ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2021, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju condemned the 'discriminatory' regulations issued against athletes of 11 countries including India, alleging that the rules came in violation to the Olympic charter. Owing to the COVID-19 situation, 11 countries namely- India, Pakistan, UK, Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Egypt, Malaysia, and Vietnam have been clubbed into 'Group 1' and issued stricter quarantine and COVID-19 regulations. Some of the regulations prevent athletes from these countries to practice before their main events. 

"We got the information from Japan that there are certain concerns... as per the Olympic charter there cannot be any discrimination with any country in the participation for the Olympics," Kiren Rijiju said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday. "If there are rules which are discriminatory to Indians or for that matter any country this has to be addressed. I have already conveyed to IOA to register a formal complaint before the organizing committee in Japan, which they already did," he added.

The Sports Minister announced that the Indian Embassy in Japan is also dealing with this matter. "So if there are rules and regulations which is not good for us as a sports minister I will strongly raise the issue. So matter has come and we had already conveyed, hopefully, there will some right action taken up," the Minister stated.

Discriminatory rules for 11 countries?

The Japanese government's rules for 'Group 1' countries have caused a massive row in India after the IOA dubbed them as 'unfair and discriminatory'. Under the rules, players coming from the aforementioned countries need to get tested every day, for seven days, prior to their departure to Japan and are allowed to only reach Japan 5 days before their match. In the 5 days, they are not allowed to practice before the games and have to stay in quarantine for at least 3 days. Moreover, what has caused controversy is that even after reaching Japan, the players have to get tested every day, something that the players of other countries are not being subjected to. Athletes have also been asked to keep their physical interaction with all others, including from another team, delegation or country 'to a minimum.'

Sources have revealed that the measures have been put in place owing to the presence of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in these countries. Tokyo Olympics will begin exactly a month from today on July 23. The Tokyo Olympics organizing party has announced that up to 10,000 people will be allowed to watch Olympic events in stadiums this summer. 

(With Agency Inputs)