Japan crushed Australia 8-1 in the first of three softball
openers that mark the first events of the Summer Games. The opening ceremony
will be held on Friday.
The United States defeated Italy 2-0 in Wednesday’s second
game, with Mexico versus Canada to follow.
Olympics and Japanese officials have forged ahead with the sports
spectacle despite opposition in the country to hosting more than 11,000
athletes, staff and media.
But spectators have been barred and restrictions imposed in
host city Tokyo in an effort to minimize health risks and contain a mounting
number of infections.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Games should go
ahead to demonstrate to the world what can be achieved with the right plan and
measures.
“May the rays of hope from this land illuminate a new dawn
for a healthy, safer and fairer world,” he said, holding aloft an Olympic Games
torch as he addressed the International Olympic Committee members at their
session in the Japanese capital. “It is my sincere hope the Tokyo Games
succeed.”
But Tedros warned the world was in the early stages of
another wave of infections and criticized the vaccine discrepancies between
countries.
“The pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it. It
is in our hands,” he said. “We have all the tools we need. We can prevent this
disease, we can test for it and we can treat it.”
Japan, with about 34% of the population having had at least
one dose of the vaccine, has been concerned the Olympics could become a
super-spreader event.
In a recent poll in the Asahi newspaper, 68% of respondents
expressed doubt about the ability of Olympic organizers to control coronavirus
infections, with 55% saying they were opposed to the Games going ahead.
Japanese domestic media reported that government adviser
Shigeru Omi said Tokyo daily COVID-19 infections may spike to a record level of
3,000 in first week of August.
That would cause an extremely high risk of pressuring on the
already-stretched medical system.
Underscoring the downsized Games due to the pandemic, Prime
Minister Yoshihide Suga will only meet with less than 20 country leaders on the
sidelines of the Olympics, down from as many as 120 originally scheduled, the
Mainichi Shimbun daily reported.
Japan, U.S. clinch 1st victories
The softball match between a gold-medal contender Japan and
Australia was held amid buzzing cicadas and polite applause from a few hundred
staff as a trio of two-run homers cleared the fence after spectators were
banned at the stadium.
“I feel relieved,” said Japan’s starting pitcher Yukiko
Ueno, who surrendered just two hits over 4-1/3 innings, but saw her team easily
prevail with a trio of two-run homers toward an 8-1 win.
Ueno, ace of the softball team’s 2008 gold medal run,
struggled to throw strikes early and hit two Australians.
Coach Reika Utsugi said Ueno was too cautious after the
pandemic had limited scrimmages. Ueno blamed her excitement on the “very long
time” between Olympics – a remark she illustrated for reporters by
outstretching her arms.
Ueno quickly bounced back. Australian designated player
Tarni Stepto said her side failed to exert patience at the plate, leaving bases
loaded in the first after scoring the game’s initial run.
The game ended after five innings due to a mercy rule.
In the second of Wednesday’s matches, U.S. left-hander Cat
Osterman, who is back from retirement, struck out nine and let a single hit
over six shutout innings, leaving her with two runs allowed in 39.4 innings
across three Olympics.
On the bench, Italy and the United States draped heads with
towels or their gloves to cool off in a balmy 34 degrees Celsius (94
Fahrenheit).
Teams face each other once over six days before the top four
advance to medal games.
The first two days are at a baseball stadium in Fukushima, a
region badly affected by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
After the 2008 Beijing Olympics featured a softball-specific
venue, the temporary fencing in the outfield and an electronically-lowered
pitching mound in Fukushima have attracted scorn from fans.
There was at least one hiccup. Though rules require one, a
chalk pitching circle was not laid until the fourth inning.
To offer some semblance of fan support, concourses at
stadiums including the one at Fukushima have been lined with young peach trees
and other plants bearing messages from local children urging athletes to “go
for gold”.
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