China says will participate in Tokyo gymnastics event in November
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Tokyo: A top Chinese sports official has confirmed that China will participate in Japan's first international tournament in more than half a year.
"This is our first international competition since the Covid-19 outbreak. We will be isolated for 14 days of quarantine and another seven days for observation after returning from Japan. That is a tough challenge," China's national gymnastics team manager Ye Zhennan told Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.
Overseas gymnasts will not be asked by Japan to quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival in Tokyo, but can only travel between their hotels, their training bases and the competition venue.
China had suffered its most humiliating defeat in more than 30 years at the Rio Olympic Games when they failed to win a single gold medal, the first time since the Los Angeles Games in 1984, and now looks to rebound from this memory.
The four-nation meet, sanctioned by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and scheduled to take place at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo on November 8, will be the first international event for an Olympic sport in Japan since the postponement of the Tokyo Games caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The other three teams will be Russia, the US and Japan, with each country entering four male and four female gymnasts.
(From IANS feed with minor edits)
