Covid-19 forces cancellation of women Volleyball match
The opening match of the women’s beach volleyball tournament at the Tokyo Olympics was cancelled on Saturday due to coronavirus.
It has the unwanted record of becoming the first event of this year’s Games to be cancelled due to a positive test.
Czech Republic star Marketa Nausch-Slukova tested positive earlier this week, forcing her and partner Barbora Hermannova to pull out of the contest and hand their Japanese opponents a 2-0 victory.
Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami won by default and are into the next round due to Covid-19.
Six members of the Czech Olympic team have tested positive so far and the country’s Olympic Committee had launched an investigation into a charter flight bringing athletes to Tokyo.
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Slukova, who finished fifth at the London Olympics in 2012, and Hermannova are the world’s 16th ranked pair.
Slukova’s husband and Coach Simon Nausch, and men’s beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic, have also tested positive.
Olympics organisers confirmed on Saturday that one more athlete at the Tokyo Games had tested positive for Covid-19.
Olympics-related cases rose by 17, organisers said, bringing the total number of disclosed cases to 123.