The quarter-final lineups for the men's football event at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 were confirmed following the end of the group stage round. Spain and football’s powerhouse Brazil are the strong favorites to win a gold medal at this year's Olympic Games. Spain will meet Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals, while Brazil will face a resurgent Egypt team in the first knockout round. The match between South Korea and Mexico is likely to be the most thrilling one in the quarter-final phase. Who can qualify in the men's football semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 is discussed in this article. Who are the front-runners to make it to the semifinals? 1st Quarter-Final (Spainvs. Ivory Coast) Venue: Rifu | Date: July 31 | Time (BST): 2 pm Verdict: Spain 2-1 Ivory Coast Following a strong showing in the group stage, Spain will be the favorite against Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals. However, we can't refute that Ivory Coast had a solid performance in the group stage as well. They will do whatever they can to maintain the momentum and earn a place in the next knockout round. Read ‘OK not to be OK’: Mental health takes top role at Olympics Spain’s probable starting XI UnaiSimón (GK), Pau Torres, Eric García, Marc Cucurella, Óscar Gil, Martín Zubimendi, Pedri, Carlos Soler, Marco Asensio, Mikel Oyarzabal, Javier Puado Ivory Coast’s probable starting XI Eliezer Ira (GK), KouadioDabila, Eric Bailly, Ismael Diallo, WilfriedSingo, Franck Kessié, ZiéOuattara, KouassiEboue, Youssouf Dao, Max Gradel, Amad Diallo Read: Tokyo Olympics 2020: Turkmenistan Wins its First Olympic Medal 2nd Quarter-Final (Japan vs.New Zealand) Venue: Kashima | Date: July 31 | Time (BST): 3 pm Verdict: Japan 2-0New Zealand Japan will have a slight advantage over New Zealand and will be the favorite to win this match. However, Japan will have to fight hard to beat a resurgent New Zealand side. The New Zealand side has looked impressive in this tournament and is poised to eliminate Japan from the competition. Japan’s probable starting XI Kosei Tani (GK), Kou Itakura, Maya Yoshida, Yuta Nakayama, Hiroki Sakai, Takefusa Kubo, Wataru Endo, Ao Tanaka, Daichi Hayashi, Yuki Soma, Ritsu Doan New Zealand’s probable starting XI Michael Woud (GK), Winston Reid, NandoPijnaker, Gianni Stensness, Clayton Lewis, Joe Bell, LiberatoCacace, Dane Ingham, Chris Wood, CallumMcCowatt, Elijah Just Read: Tokyo records record virus cases days after Olympics begin 3rd Quarter-Final (Brazilvs.Egypt) Venue: Saitama | Date: July 31 | Time (BST): 4 pm Verdict: Brazil2-0 Egypt We can expect a good battle between Brazil and Egypt in the third quarter-final. Brazil topped the group stage with a total of 7 points. Egypt edged out Argentina in the group stage due to a superior goal difference in the race for second place. However, Brazil have enough firepower to defeat Egypt in the quarter-final. Brazil’s probable starting XI Santos (GK), Diego Carlos, Nino, Guilherme Arana, DaniAlves, Richarlison, Bruno Guimarães, Douglas Luiz, Matheus Cunha, Claudinho, Antony Egypt’s probable starting XI Mohamed El-Shenawy (GK), Ahmed Hegazi, Mahmoud El-Wensh, Osama Galal, Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh, Karim El Eraki, Amar Hamdi, AkramTawfik, Ramadan Sobhi, Salah Mohsen, Ahmed Rayan Read: Naomi Osaka eliminated from Tokyo Olympics tennis tournament 4th Quarter-Final (South Koreavs. Mexico) Venue: Yokohama | Date: July 31 | Time (BST): 5pm Verdict:South Korea2-1Mexico (Extra Time) This will be the most exciting match in the quarter-finals. Both South Korea and Mexico have strong teams. South Korea topped group B, while Mexico came in second in group A. South Korea will have an edge in this match against Mexico due to the familiar environment. South Korea’s probable starting XI Song Bum-Keun (GK), Ji-Su Park, Jeong Tae-Wook, Kang Yoon-Sung, Seol Young-Woo, JeongSeung-Won, Won Du-Jae, Um Won-Sang, Lee Dong-Jun, Dong-Gyeong Lee, Hwang Ui-Jo Mexico’s probable starting XI Guillermo Ochoa (GK), Johan Vásquez, César Montes, Érick Aguirre, Jorge Sánchez, LuísRomo, Francisco Córdova, Carlos Rodríguez, Henry Martín, Alexis Vega, Diego Lainez Read: Pandemic Olympics endured heat, and now a typhoon’s en route Verdict As per the quarter-finals schedule, Spain and Brazil are the two heavy favorites to advance to the semifinals of the men's football event at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. On the other side, Japan and South Korea will have a slight advantage over their quarterfinal opponents. The best teams should make it to the semi-finals. The semifinal round will begin on July 31 (Saturday).

An 18-member contingent from Bangladesh, including six athletes who will represent the country in various disciplines and 12 officials, will join the world's biggest sports carnival, the Olympic Games, to be held in Japanese capital Tokyo  from July 23 to August 8 next. The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the 32nd Olympiad and branded as Tokyo 2020, the world's biggest international multi sports festival, finally looks set to proceed, after being held over from last year due to the pandemic -the first time in the Games' history that they have been postponed and rescheduled, rather than cancelled. The Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for July 24 to August 9 in 2020, was postponed in March 2020 for the Covid-19 pandemic and later rescheduled for 2021. It will now be held largely behind closed doors with no spectators permitted under the state of emergency. Also read: Genuinely excited to welcome Bangladesh Olympic team to Tokyo: Japanese envoy Six Bangladeshi athletes will compete in four disciplines of sports --archery, swimming,athletics and Shooting --in their dream.

Japan is set to place Tokyo under a state of emergency that would last through the Olympics, fearing an ongoing COVID-19 surge will multiply during the Games. At a meeting with experts Thursday morning, government officials proposed a plan to issue a state of emergency in Tokyo from next Monday to Aug. 22. The Summer Olympics, already delayed a year by the pandemic, begin July 23 and close Aug. 8. The Games already will take place without foreign spectators, but the planned six-week state of emergency likely ends chances of a local audience. A decision about fans is expected later Thursday when local organizers meet with the International Olympic Committee and other representatives. Read:As Tokyo Olympics approach, virus worries rise in Japan Tokyo is currently under less-stringent measures that focus on shortened hours for bars and restaurants but have proven less effective at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is to formally announce the emergency plans later Thursday, hours after IOC President Thomas Bach was to land in Tokyo. Bach must self-isolate for three days in the IOC’s five-star hotel in the Japanese capital before heading to Hiroshima, where heavy rain is threatening flooding. The upcoming emergency will be the fourth for Tokyo since the pandemic began and is a last-minute change of plan made late Wednesday after a meeting with experts who warned strongly against the government’s soft approach. A main focus of the emergency is a request for bars, restaurants and karaoke parlors serving alcohol to close. A ban on serving alcohol is a key step to tone down Olympic-related festivities and keep people from drinking and partying. Tokyo residents are expected to face stay-home requests and watch the Games on TV from home. “How to stop people enjoying the Olympics from going out for drinks is a main issue,” Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said. Read: It’s Olympic month for Japan Tokyo reported 920 new cases on Wednesday, up from 714 last week and its highest since 1,010 on May 13. The figure is in line with experts’ earlier estimate that daily cases in Tokyo could hit 1,000 before the Games and could spike into thousands in August. Kazuhiro Tateta, a Toho University infectious diseases expert, noted an earlier state of emergency in the spring came too late to prevent hospitals in Osaka from overflowing with patients and said another delay should not be allowed. Ryuji Wakita, director-general of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, noted that two-thirds of Japan’s cases are from the Tokyo region and “our concern is the spread of the infections to neighboring areas.” Experts also noted cases among younger, unvaccinated people are rising as Japan’s inoculation drive loses steam due to supply uncertainty. Read:Tokyo shapes up to be No-Fun Olympics with many rules, tests Just 15% of Japanese are fully vaccinated, low compared to 47.4% in the United States and almost 50% in Britain. Nationwide, Japan has had about 810,000 infections and nearly 14,900 deaths. “The infections are in their expansion phase and everyone in this country must firmly understand the seriousness of it,” Dr. Shigeru Omi, a top government medical adviser, told reporters. He urged authorities to quickly take tough measures ahead of the Olympics with summer vacations approaching. “The period from July to September is the most critical time for Japan’s COVID-19 measures,” Omi said.

The calendar has flipped over in the Land of the Rising Sun, marking the beginning of Japan’s Olympic Month. The 2020 summer Olympic Games are supposed to kick-off on July 23 with a watered-down grand opening at the newly built national stadium in Tokyo. Japan had won the bid to hold this sought-after event in Tokyo in September 2013 and since then the metropolitan government as well as the central administration had taken a number of bold measures to ensure a successful holding of this grand sporting celebration on a global scale. Everything was moving almost in a seamless manner well until the unfolding of a great tragedy that the world started encountering in the form of coronavirus, which eventually had upturned many of our plans; including the 2020 Olympic Games. As a result, the Olympic Games that Tokyo was looking forward to, was postponed for a year and the dates and schedules for all related events were shifted to 2021. The organizers, though, kept the old name of Tokyo 2020 unchanged. During the subsequent year-long period of slow down and emergencies, the organizers of the games were busy finding ways that would allow the events to go ahead and also would not pose any serious health threat to participants, officials, spectators, as well as people of the host city. At the height of the infection during the second half of last year, nobody was able to foresee convincingly about the future of the Games in Tokyo. There were wild card calls for a blanket cancellation or indefinite postponement, as the virus started travelling all over the places causing rampant devastation and increasing the fear that a large-scale gathering like the Olympics might turn out to be suicidal. It should be noted that a second postponement would have virtually killed Tokyo 2020, as the busy window of international sporting events would probably have little option to allow the game to be held at different times other than the following year, and thus killing Tokyo 2020 altogether. Fortunately, this did not happen, though uncertainty remains over the important question of how the events are eventually to be held. Also read: Olympic Day 2021 observed in Dhaka For Tokyo, the Olympic debacle is not something completely new. We all know Japan not only successfully staged the 1964 summer Olympic Games, but did it with a tremendous success that raised the profile of the country and also that of the Asian continent, to the extent that the successful holding of 1964 Summer Olympics became synonymous to Japan’s miraculous economic progress. The bullet train Shinkansen is a product of 1964 Tokyo Olympic games, so are many of the country's industrial and consumer products with which the name of the country later became closely associated. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics, thus, marked Japan’s rise as a dominant force in the global economy. The country since then has been playing an expanded role not only in fostering a balanced global growth, but also in finding ways for helping nations that are still in need of help. In the subsequent decades since the 1964 Olympic Games, Japan has become more involved in global issues like combating global warming and environment pollution, disaster reduction and mitigation, public health, urbanization, sustainable development, as well as peace-keeping. Compared to that, Tokyo 2020 had a real rough ride. The name of the game had been tainted right from the beginning with a number of scandals, ranging from the initially approved logo and scrapping of the already decided plan for a new national stadium to the forced resignation of a number of high officials who were closely involved in the handling of preparations of the games. However, right at the moment when it looked as if Japan had successfully managed to overcome most of the difficulties, the advent of coronavirus dealt a severe blow and the games prospects once again turned extremely bleak. Though a number of issues, including how many spectators will be allowed to each of the Olympic Venues and how to ensure that the incoming flow of athletes and guests from overseas will not fuel further the spread of virus, it now looks like a definite conclusion that Tokyo 2020 will mark the start on July 23. Japan in general seems to be not lucky enough for what accounts to be hosting the Olympic Games. The rocky road that Olympic preparations had to go through during the last two years speaks all about that. But this is not the first time that Japan’s Olympic luck came across formidable obstacles. Also read: Tokyo shapes up to be No-Fun Olympics with many rules, tests Tokyo’s first successful Olympic bid was for the 1940 games, the right Japan had won during the controversial 1936 Berlin Games. The country was earnestly looking forward to the arrival of the game in Asian soil for the first time ever, and a number of new venues were already underway when the start of World War II in European soil in September 1939 effectively put an end to that ambitious dream of Tokyo. For Japan, the year 1940 was earmarked as 2,600th anniversary of Emperor Jimmu’s accession to the throne as the first emperor in Japanese history and the government planned a number of events coinciding with the hosting of the 1940 Olympic Games. But all that eventually turned out to be shattered dreams and as the consequences of the war for Japan had been extremely devastating, Tokyo for a number of years did not have any opportunity to revive that lost hope and go for another bid. However, the country eventually could realize that dream within two decades. The Olympics are also a time for hope for many of the athletes who participate. A near empty venue is not what they would expect and welcome. However, at the time of distress, it is definitely better than dumping the hope for good. Let this spirit of Olympic participation remain high, not only until the flags are raised, but also throughout the whole period of two games – 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The Tokyo Olympics, already delayed by the pandemic, are not looking like much fun: Not for athletes. Not for fans. And not for the Japanese public. They are caught between concerns about the coronavirus at a time when few are vaccinated on one side and politicians who hope to save face by holding the games and the International Olympic Committee with billions of dollars on the line on the other. Japan is famous for running on consensus. But the decision to proceed with the Olympics — and this week to permit some fans, if only locals — has shredded it. “We have been cornered into a situation where we cannot even stop now. We are damned if we do, and damned if we do not,” Kaori Yamaguchi, a member of the Japanese Olympic Committee and a bronze medalist in judo in 1988, wrote in a recent editorial published by the Kyodo news agency. “The IOC also seems to think that public opinion in Japan is not important.” Support for going ahead seems to be increasing, but there’s persistent opposition with small street protests planned on Wednesday, one month before the July 23 opening. Much of that concern stems from qualms about the health risks. While the number of new cases has been receding in Tokyo, only about 7% of Japanese are fully vaccinated — and even though the government is now supercharging its vaccine drive after a slow start, the vast majority of the population still won’t be immunized when the games start. Read:Japan’s vaccine push ahead of Olympics looks to be too late That’s left the IOC and the Japanese government going through contortions to pulls this off. Dr. Shigeru Omi, the government’s top COVID-19 adviser, called it “abnormal” to hold the world’s biggest sports event during a pandemic. He also said the safest Olympics would be with no fans. He was overruled on both counts by the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and organizers. The official cost of the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion, but government audits suggest it’s twice that. All but $6.7 billion is public money. The IOC chips in only about $1.5 billion to the overall cost. The pressure to hold the games is largely financial for the Switzerland-based IOC, a nonprofit but highly commercial body that earns 91% of its income from broadcast rights and sponsorship. Estimates suggest a cancelation could cost it $3 billion to $4 billion in broadcast rights income. Beyond financial concerns, putting on a successful Olympics is also a major source of pride for the host country. Some economists compare it to throwing a big party. You overspend but hope your guests go away bragging about the hospitality. “It’s a bit like a gambler who already has lost too much,” said Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo. “Pulling out of it now will only confirm the huge losses made, but carrying on you can still cling to the hope of winning big and taking it all back.” Before the postponement 15 months ago, Japan was on track to host a well-run if expensive Olympics. It had a beautiful new National Stadium by architect Kengo Kuma, meticulous organization, and a grand stage for a country that mounted historic games in 1964 — just 19 years after defeat in World War II. IOC President Thomas Bach called Tokyo the “best prepared Olympics ever” — and he still says it repeatedly. But now, worries that the games will be become an incubator for the virus hang over them. For now, the rolling averages of deaths and cases have stabilized in a country that has reported more than 14,000 deaths — good by global standards but worse than many of its Asian neighbors. While the games may still end up wowing television audiences who will tune in around the world, the pandemic has removed any sense of celebration. Athletes are meant to stay in the village or venues. Most others entering Japan for the Olympics can only shuttle between their hotels and venues for the first 14 days, must sign a pledge of follow the rules, and could have their movements monitored by GPS. Read:Torch relay for Tokyo Olympics kicks off its 121-day journey There will be no public viewing areas in Tokyo. The few fans who can attend venues must wear masks, social distance, refrain from cheering, and go straight home afterward. No stopping off at the local izakaya for beer and skewers of grilled chicken. With spectators from overseas ruled out months ago, there’s little business for hotels. Local sponsors have paid more than $3 billion to be involved, and some have complained about lost advertising possibilities. Others have expressed concern about being tied to an event that’s unpopular at home. In perhaps a last-ditch effort to save some of the festive spirit, organizers said Tuesday they were looking into selling alcohol at the venues. Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa indicated financial concerns were at play: Japanese brewer Asahi is one of the sponsors and has kicked millions into the local operating budget. But after immediate pushback, organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto reversed the decision at a Wednesday news conference. “We decided as Tokyo 2020 not to sell alcoholic beverages and to ban drinking alcoholic beverages in the venues,” she said. And athletes who might want a drink to celebrate have been told by organizers to “drink alone” in their rooms. Alcohol is otherwise banned in the athletes’ village. This village will also have a fever clinic, the first stop for anyone who fails a daily test — and the last place anyone wants to go. Read:What drives possible boycott of Beijing Olympics “We are hoping that there won’t be so many people,” Dr. Tetsuya Miyamoto said, director of medical services for Tokyo 2020. “This is an infectious disease we are talking about. It has the possibility of spreading. So once that happens, the numbers could start to explode.” Details of the opening ceremony are always kept a secret. But this time the questions aren’t about which celebrity will light the cauldron but rather will athletes social distance and wear masks as they march through the venue? And how many will march at all? One of the symbols of the celebratory atmosphere of the Olympics has long been its notorious policy of handing out condoms. At the games in Rio de Janeiro, officials distributed 450,000 through vending machines with signs that read, “Celebrate with a Condom.” This time there will be 150,000 — but only given to athletes as they leave for home.

In a rare show of bipartisan solidarity in the polarised US Capitol, the Senate came together on Tuesday to pass sweeping legislation designed to strengthen Washington’s hand in its escalating geopolitical and economic competition with China. By a vote of 68 to 32, the 2,400-page US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 brought together a coalition of progressives, moderates and conservatives who, despite their intense disagreements on nearly every other consequential policy issue, have become united in their view the Chinese government under the rule of Xi Jinping has become a threat to global stability and American power. “The world is more competitive now than at any time since the end of the second world war,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on the Senate floor moments before the vote. “If we do nothing, our days as the dominant superpower may be ending.” Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Read: Senators say US donating vaccines to Taiwan amid China row “This bill could be the turning point for American leadership in the 21st century, and for that reason, this legislation will go down as one of the most significant bipartisan achievements of the US Senate in recent history.” The bill, which includes about US$250 billion worth of spending, touches on nearly every aspect of the complex and increasingly tense relationship between Washington and Beijing. It includes billions of dollars to increase American semiconductor manufacturing, a sign of growing urgency in Washington that the US has become dangerously reliant on Chinese supply chains. It bans American officials from attending the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns, and declares Beijing’s policies in China’s far-west Xinjiang region a genocide, echoing the position of the US State Department and multiple parliaments around the world. Some US$2 billion of spending would be earmarked solely as incentives “to solely focus on legacy chip production to advance economic and national security interests, as these chips are essential to the auto industry, the military, and other critical industries”. It contains a range of provisions meant to strengthen US ties with Taiwan and US military alliances in the Pacific, including the Quad, an increasingly formalised pact between the US, Australia, India and Japan ” and still others to crack down on Chinese influence on US campuses, in international organisations and online. “This is an opportunity to compete with China at the research level,” Senator Roger Wicker, a Tennessee Republican, said before the vote. “This bill will strengthen our country’s innovation in key technology fields of the future, areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing and communications, and this bill also is a game changer in terms of giving universities all over the United States an opportunity to participate in game-changing research.” The legislation also authorises new sanctions on Chinese officials for a range of crimes, including cyberattacks, intellectual property theft and, in Xinjiang ” where human rights groups cite United Nations reports and witness accounts that as many as 1 million Uygurs and other Muslim minorities are held in “re-education camps” ” against perpetrators of “systematic rape, coercive abortion, forced sterilisation or involuntary contraceptive implantation policies and practices”. Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and insists that the camps are vocational training facilities. Read: Slow to start, China mobilizes to vaccinate at headlong pace Now the issue shifts to the House of Representatives, which has already begun considering a number of China-related bills, the largest being the Eagle Act. Eventually, if the House passes its own legislation, the two chambers will have to reconcile any differences in their respective bills before they can send them to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Biden has used the US competition with China as justification for a range of domestic and foreign policies, and is almost certain to sign a final bill once it reaches his desk. For various reasons, including stated concerns about rising US debt and individual amendments not being added to the bill, a handful of the Senate’s frequent critics of Beijing voted against the legislation. They included Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida, who said the cost of the legislation was too high despite “the threat (the Chinese government) poses to our national security”. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “I think the bill is important, whether or not we’re talking about the competition with China,” said Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. “It’s clear that the United States needs to do more, and I think this is a really important effort and it sends an important message as well.” “I think there is widespread acknowledgement among both Democrats and Republicans that we need to be smarter and do better in terms of meeting the broad array of challenges that China presents to our political, economic and security interests,” she said. “There’s a sense that China poses a clear and present danger, if not an existential threat, and that if the US fails to step up and meet this challenge at this particular moment in time, it may not have another opportunity.” The Senate vote followed months of debate in the chamber. In February, Schumer asked numerous Senate committees to draft China legislation of their own, which he ultimately combined into the expansive bill that passed on Tuesday. Asked in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday whether he would support the funding requests in the bill, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would “welcome” the opportunity. Read:US to swiftly boost global vaccine sharing, Biden announces “I have to tell you again that we really applaud this initiative,” Blinken said. “It’s going to give us new tools, new resources to deal more effectively with the competition, and I very much welcome the opportunity to work closely with you, members of this committee, other relevant committees to put this into practice,” he said. Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have already agreed to some changes to the Eagle Act, including adding clearer language calling for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Politico reported, citing people involved in the discussions. Republicans say they want more concessions to support a final version, including stronger language in support of democracy in Taiwan, according to the Politico report.  

David Dushman, the last surviving Soviet soldier involved in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, has died. He was 98. The Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria said Sunday that Dushman had died at a Munich hospital on Saturday. “Every witness to history who passes on is a loss, but saying farewell to David Dushman is particularly painful,” said Charlotte Knobloch, a former head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews. “Dushman was right on the front lines when the National Socialists’ machinery of murder was destroyed.” As a young Red Army soldier, Dushman flattened the forbidding electric fence around the notorious Nazi death camp with his T-34 tank on Jan. 27, 1945. Read: Germany extends virus lockdown till mid-April as cases rise He admitted that he and his comrades didn’t immediately realize the full magnitude of what had happened in Auschwitz. “Skeletons everywhere,” he recalled in a 2015 interview with Munich newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “They stumbled out of the barracks, they sat and lay among the dead. Terrible. We threw them all of our canned food and immediately drove on, to hunt fascists.” More than a million people, most of them Jews deported there from all over Europe, were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau between 1940 and 1945. Dushman earlier took part in some of the bloodiest military encounters of World War II, including the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk. He was seriously wounded three times but survived the war, one of just 69 soldiers in his 12,000-strong division. Read: WHO, Germany to launch new global hub for pandemic, epidemic intelligence His father — a former military doctor— was meanwhile imprisoned and later died in a Soviet punishment camp after falling victim to one of Josef Stalin’s purges. After the war, Dushman helped train the Soviet Union’s women’s national fencing team for four decades and witnessed the attack by eight Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which resulted in the deaths of 11 Israelis, five of the Palestinians and a German policeman. Later in life, Dushman visited schools to tell students about the war and the horrors of the Holocaust. He also regularly dusted off his military medals to participate in veterans gatherings. “Dushman was a legendary fencing coach and the last living liberator of the Auschwitz concentration camp,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement. Read:Legendary Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov buried in Russia IOC President Thomas Bach paid tribute to Dushman, recounting how as a young fencer for what was then West Germany he was offered “friendship and counsel” by the veteran coach in 1970 ”despite Mr Dushman’s personal experience with World War II and Auschwitz, and he being a man of Jewish origin.” “This was such a deep human gesture that I will never ever forget it,” Bach said in a statement. Dushman trained some of the Soviet Union’s most successful fencers, including Valentina Sidorova, and continued to give lessons well into his 90s, the IOC said. Details on funeral arrangements weren’t immediately known. Dushman’s wife, Zoja, died several years ago.

It may be too little, too late. That’s the realization sinking in as Japan scrambles to catch up on a frustratingly slow vaccination drive less than two months before the Summer Olympics, delayed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, are scheduled to start. The Olympics risk becoming an incubator for “a Tokyo variant,” as 15,000 foreign athletes and tens of thousands officials, sponsors and journalists from about 200 countries descend on — and potentially mix with — a largely unvaccinated Japanese population, said Dr. Naoto Ueyama, a physician, head of the Japan Doctors Union. With infections in Tokyo and other heavily populated areas currently at high levels and hospitals already under strain treating serious cases despite a state of emergency, experts have warned there is little slack in the system. Read: Japan's Olympic chief marks pride week with LGBTQ event Even if the country succeeds in meeting its goal of fully vaccinating all 36 million elderly by the end of July — already a week into the Games — about 70% of the population would not be inoculated. And many have dismissed the target as overly optimistic anyway. To meet it, Japan is vowing to soon start administering 1 million doses daily. It currently is only giving 500,000 per day, already a big improvement after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called on military doctors and nurses and started making legal exceptions to recruit other vaccinators in order to boost the drive. “Vaccinations under the current pace are not going to help prevent infections during the Olympics,” Tokyo Medical Association Chairman Haruo Ozaki said. “The Olympics can trigger a global spread of different variants of the virus.” The International Olympic Committee says more than 80% of athletes and staff staying in the Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay will be vaccinated — and they are expected to remain largely in a bubble at the village and venues. On Tuesday, Japan started vaccinating athletes who will go to the Games, the Japanese Olympic Committee said. But vaccination rates are not clear for others involved in the Games who are coming from abroad, including hard-hit regions, and experts warn that even strict rules won’t prevent all mingling, especially among non-athletes. Spectators from overseas have been barred. Prominent medical journals have questioned the wisdom of pushing ahead with the Tokyo Games and the Asahi Shimbun — the country’s second-largest newspaper — has called for them to be canceled, reflecting widespread opposition to holding the Olympics now among the Japanese population. But the government has said it’s determined to push ahead, with the viability of Suga’s leadership and geopolitical competition with rival Beijing, the next Olympics host, as well as the health of millions, on the line. “By using a new weapon called vaccines and taking firm preventive measures, it is fully possible” to hold the Olympics safely, Suga told a parliamentary session Tuesday. Officials are now desperately trying to think of ways to increase the shots at a time when medical workers are already under pressure treating COVID-19 patients. Many say they have no extra resources to help with the Olympics, if, for instance, the boiling Japanese summer causes widespread cases of heat stroke. Some local leaders in and around Tokyo have rejected the Olympics organizers’ requests to set aside beds for athletes. Read:Torch relay for Tokyo Olympics kicks off its 121-day journey Dr. Shigeru Omi, former World Health Organization regional director and a head of a government taskforce, said it is crucial to start inoculating younger people, who are seen as likely to spread the virus, as soon as possible. More than three months into Japan’s vaccination campaign, only 2.7% of the population has been fully vaccinated. The country started its rollout with health care workers in mid-February, months behind many other countries because Japan required additional clinical testing here, a step many experts say was medically meaningless. Inoculations for the elderly, who are more likely to suffer serious problems when infected, started in mid-April, but were slowed by initial supply shortages, cumbersome reservation procedures and a lack of medical workers to give shots. But there are signs of improvement. The vaccine supply has increased and despite earlier expectations of a hesitant response to vaccines in general, senior citizens fearful of the virus are rushing to inoculation sites. Since May 24, Japan has deployed 280 military doctors and nurses in Tokyo and the badly hit city of Osaka. More than 33,000 vaccination sites now operate across Japan, and more are coming, said Taro Kono, the minister in charge of vaccinations. In Sumida, a district in downtown Tokyo where boxing events will be held, vaccinations for its 61,000 elderly residents began on May 10, and within two weeks, 31% of them had gotten their first shots, compared to the national average of 3.7%. Sumida is now looking to start inoculating younger people later this month, well ahead of schedule. Close coordination among primary care doctors, hospitals and residents, as well as flexibility, have contributed to smooth progress, Sumida district spokesperson Yosuke Yatabe said. “It’s like a factory line,” Yatabe said. Ryuichiro Suzuki, a 21-year-old university student in Tokyo, said he is frustrated with Japan’s lagging vaccination campaign. “I saw that some of my friends overseas have been vaccinated, but my turn won’t come until later this summer,” he said. “The risk-averse government took extra caution even when our primary goal was to get back to normal as soon as possible.” Read: Tokyo Olympic organizers to meet March 20 on fate of overseas spectators Kono, the vaccine minister, said more large-scale inoculation centers are getting underway, including at hundreds of college campuses and offices to start vaccinating younger people from June 21. Beyond the concerns about the Olympics and despite the fact that Japan has seen fewer cases and deaths compared to the United States and other advanced nations, the country’s slow pace of vaccinations and its prolonged, often toothless state of emergency could also delay its economic recovery for months, said Masaya Sasaki, senior economist at the Nomura Research Institute. And despite repeated expressions of official government confidence in the Games being safe, there are fears here of what might happen if vaccinations don’t pick up. “The Olympics, billed as a recovery Games, can trigger a new disaster,” said Ueyama, of the Japan Doctors Union.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened multi-sport extravaganza Bangabandhu 9th Bangladesh Games on Thursday at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in the capital. She joined the inaugural ceremony from her official residence Ganobhaban virtually in the evening. Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) is organising the Bangladesh Games at 29 separate venues across the country. Addressing the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Hasina urged all athletes of 31 sports disciplines of the Games to make themselves fit enough to compete in the Olympics in the future. “Alongside showing your skills in (9th Bangladesh Games), make yourselves properly fit to participate in the Olympic Games anywhere in the world in the future,” she said. She said the government will take steps to arrange international training to make sportspersons prepared so that they can take part in some events of the Olympic Games. “We want to develop our athletes in such a way,” she said. The PM urged all the athletes to follow the health protection rules as it is being held amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Also read: Avoid public gatherings, wear masks to fight Covid surge, PM urges all She also asked the organiser to pay attention so that health rules are maintained during the Bangabandhu 9th Bangladesh Games. Sheikh Hasina said sports are absolutely needed, particularly for our small children and youths.

Building elaborate venues for Beijing’s 2022 Winter Olympics is the easy part for China, just as it was for the city’s Summer Olympics in 2008. The competition venues are ready, and non-competition sites will be completed this summer with the Games set to open one year from Thursday on Feb. 4, 2022.