Refugee team to be a part of Olympics for the second time, reveals IOC
Getty
After 10 refugees competed at the Rio Games three years back, the International Olympic Committee declared on Tuesday that a team of 51 refugees would again take part at the Tokyo Olympics. The group will be supported by the Olympic Solidarity programme and come from different sports background.
In their 133rd meeting in Buenos Aires, IOC has approved the decision of a refugee team taking part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Deputy general director Pere Miro, who is in charge of relations with national Olympic committees, revealed that the IOC "has identified 51 athletes living in refugee camps or in refugee conditions”.
“We can expect much, in 2016 just we competed, now we are going not only to compete if we can bring gold or even a final...Competing with top athletes is a big challenge, but we hope we will do something in Tokyo 2020,” he added.
Among the athletes will be Yiech Pur Biel, a middle-distance runner from South Sudan, who is hopeful of making it to the finals of 800m after failing in the heats in Rio.Â
The 51 athlete refugee team would be inclusive of the two Syria fled swimmers, a pair of Congolese judokas, an Ethiopian marathon runner, and four middle-distance runners from South Sudan, as well as a 400m runner, who earlier debuted in Rio.
They are being supported by the Olympic Solidarity programme and belong to different sports, including karate and taekwondo.
Cricket FootBall Kabaddi
Basketball Hockey
SportsCafe
