How tribal communities are powering India’s Olympic hockey dreams

101 East meets the hockey players from India’s tribal communities who are reviving the country’s love for the sport.

In the remote tribal communities of eastern India, the sport of hockey thrives.

Tribal players excel at the game, helping India reclaim its place as a powerhouse of the sport.

After a four-decade Olympic medal drought, India returned to the podium at the Tokyo Games with the help of players like Amit Rohidas.

That victory reignited hopes that India could again rise to the top of the hockey world.

The Afghan cyclists who fled to pursue their Olympic dreams

 

It has been one year since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.

One of the first things they did was ban women from playing any sport, putting female athletes in danger.

But with the help of a former World Champion cyclist, five young women from the national cycling team managed to escape to a town in northern Italy.

Some of them are now hoping to become the first cyclists to ever represent Afghanistan at the Olympics. The BBC visited them to find out how they’re settling in to their new lives.

Tokyo Midnight Snack | 7-Eleven “Olympic” Bento & Pudding

 

Belarus sprinter who refused orders to fly home lands in Austria

 

A Belarusian athlete who refused orders to fly home early from the Olympics has safely arrived in Vienna, Austria's foreign ministry has confirmed. Krystina Timanovskaya, 24, left Tokyo earlier on Wednesday and will travel on to Warsaw after Poland granted her and her husband a humanitarian visa.

CNN outside embassy where Belarusian sprinter took refuge

 

CNN's Selina Wang reports from outside the Polish embassy in Tokyo after Belarusian sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya received a humanitarian visa from Poland on August 2. Hours earlier, Timanovskaya refused to board a flight out of Japan saying she was being forced to return to her native country against her will and that she feared arrest.

Tokyo Olympics: Belarus sprinter refuses to board flight home

A Belarusian sprinter voiced fears for her safety as she refused an order to fly home early from the Olympics for criticising her coaches.

The refugee athlete who lost his mum to Covid - BBC News

 

Abdullah Sediqi escaped gang violence in Afghanistan and fled to Belgium where he continued his taekwondo training in a refugee camp.

About 60 COVID-19 cases connected to Tokyo Olympics ahead of opening ceremony

Toyota says it will not air commercials in Japan amid controversy over the games taking place in a state of emergency.

As the super spreader coronavirus pandemic Olympics are about to start. Just remember that for the IOC it's all about the advert money and not about the safety of the public or the athletes.

Hiroshima's Citizens Aren't Welcoming IOC Pres. Thomas Bach

 IOC President Thomas Bach will visit the city of Hiroshima today even though there's an online petition signed by more than 70.000 people telling to piss off.  Somehow this fool who's busy promoting his Olympic sized super spreader event believes (I'm sure in complete delusion) that it will burnish his the IOC's reputation.  80% of the country is against having the Olympics at all yet there this fool will stand acting like the whole of the country is in love with him and his greedy organization. 

A civic group filed a complaint Monday with governments in Hiroshima Prefecture to cancel International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach's planned visit to the atomic-bombed city in western Japan later this week.

The group argues that the visit by Bach, who is already in Tokyo for the upcoming Olympics, is aimed at politically utilizing the city promoting world peace, at a time when the IOC and Japanese organizers are sticking to the plan to hold the event despite public concern about the coronavirus pandemic.

Such an attempt is considered a "dishonoring of hibakusha," the group said in the written statement submitted to the prefectural and municipal governments of Hiroshima, referring to survivors of the wartime U.S. bombing of the city in 1945.

Tokyo bans all spectators from Olympic Games

The Olympic Games in Tokyo will be held with no spectators, organizers announced on Thursday, after Japan's Prime Minister called a state of emergency in the capital.

Tokyo Olympics 2021: New Sports Debut!

 From skateboarding to baseball, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics are adding sports that are popular in Japan to the summer games.

Why are the Olympics going ahead? - BBC News

 The Tokyo Olympics start in late July, despite a surge of Covid cases in Japan

Ros Atkins looks at why the Games are still going ahead, despite polls in Japan suggesting public opinion is against them happening now

Up to 10,000 Japanese fans at Tokyo 2020 events

 Up to 10,000 Japanese fans will be permitted at Tokyo 2020 Olympic venues, despite warnings from health bosses.

Overseas spectators are already banned but organisers said domestic fans could attend providing crowds did not exceed 50% of a venue's capacity.

The IOC is determined to make as much money as possible even that means a rise in infections and deaths from the coronavirus.

Abandoned After the Olympics: Greece's $11 Billion Mistake

 As is usually the case, the reality is more complicated than the narrative.

No fans is "least risky" option at Tokyo Olympics

 

Having no spectators at the Tokyo Olympics is the "least risky" option, Japanese medical experts have said. In a report, they warned there was "a risk the movement of people" would spread Covid infections and "strain the [country's] medical system".

Tokyo Olympic Host Venue - Kawagoe aka Little Edo - Japan 2021

If you visit Japan. Kawagoe is about 35 minutes from Tokyo's Ikebukuro station on the Tobu Tojo line. Kawagoe will host the Olympic golf competition. 

Should sporting events go ahead during the pandemic?

 Renewed questions on whether postponed Tokyo Olympics will be held.

When the Tokyo Olympics were postponed last year, organisers promised to hold them this summer as a symbol of victory over COVID-19.

But with coronavirus cases rising, recent polls show 80 percent of Japanese do not want the Games to go ahead.

Japan, IOC agree to postpone Tokyo Olympics for one year

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach agreed Tuesday to postpone this summer's Tokyo Olympics for one year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Japanese leader said.

After speaking with Bach on the phone, Abe told reporters that they will aim to hold the Olympics and Paralympics next year in summer at the latest.

It is the first time ever that the quadrennial sporting event has been postponed.

The IOC will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the postponement of the Tokyo Games, Abe said.

Olympic politics: North Korea's media charm offensive

North Korea's media games and what's really behind the Olympic story of thawing tensions between North and South Korea.

Not every picture tells a story and not every image is worth a thousand words.

But the right one - in the right place, at the right political time - can pack a bigger punch than a hundred soundbites or a million tweets.

An image like the one of athletes from two countries still officially at war - North and South Korea - taking the Olympic stage under one flag at the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

"It's a great photo op. It makes for some good pictures. It does sort of bring the sense of potential and the sense of optimism at least briefly for that sports event. But it doesn't necessarily mean unification is around the corner," says Jenny Town, managing editor of 38 North.

Meet North Korea's Winter Olympics cheerleading squad

North Korea's cheerleaders are making waves at the Winter Olympics. The group caught the world's attention during their energetic performance at the joint Korea women's ice hockey match against Switzerland despite their team's 8-0 defeat