Tokyo -
Japan will host baseball games in an almost full stadium to test measures against the spread of the coronavirus, eight months before the Olympic Games, said the Minister of Economy, Yasutoshi Nishimura, on Thursday.
The three games will take place from October 30th to November 1st at the Yokohama Stadium, on the outskirts of Tokyo. This venue, which will host the baseball and softball trials for the Games, will be filled to 80% of its capacity of 34,000 seats.
Attendance cannot currently exceed 50% of the hosting possibilities in Japanese stadiums due to the pandemic, but the government is looking for ways to ease this restriction as the Tokyo Games approach, scheduled for July 23rd to August 8th.
Nishimura, in charge of preventing Covid-19, stated that these games would be "an experiment".
Kanagawa prefecture governor, Yuji Kuroiwa, said he hopes that these games will "take a big step towards the success of the Olympic Games". (D)