Two golds? Two silver? How COVID-19 could make the Tokyo 2020 hockey event an unusual relationship-Sports News, Firstpost

File image of Indian hockey team players celebrating a goal

The Tokyo Olympics may have two gold medalists or two silver medalists in hockey, in accordance with sport-specific regulations approved by the Hockeys International Governing Body, FIH and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

FIH CEO Thierry Weil confirmed this in a virtual press conference with Indian journalists on Friday, a week before the start of the postponed Tokyo Olympics in the cloud. coronavirus .

FIH Sport Specific Rules (SSR) for the year coronavirus noted that if a team has to withdraw from the Olympics in the playoffs due to too many COVID-19 In a team, the team they won in the previous relegation round will advance in their place if they are still in Tokyo (Tokyo 2020 organizers have set a rule that athletes must leave the Game Village two days after their participation is over). This move essentially provides a second chance for an eliminated team if their winner has to be pulled out due to an outbreak in their team.

Larger teams in Tokyo

Normally, a team is allowed to nominate 16-member teams for the Olympics, but given that coronavirus The IOC agreed to allow two more players to be added to the team in reserve. (Each national team has also been given the opportunity to fly three more players as alternates to Tokyo, but they will set up outside their own sports village in their own bubble.)

Given the available players for each team with the original 16-member lineup, as well as funds and alternates, FIH hopes that there will be no situation in Tokyo where the team will have to withdraw completely due to outbreaks.

It should be noted that the FIH or IOC has not currently kept a cap on the minimum number of players a team must have available to play matches.

The decision to withdraw is at the discretion of the teams. Even if there were six players on the team who have agreed COVID-19 , they could still play, said FIH CEO Thierry Weil. If there are only 11 players on the team, they can still play. While the team is playing with 10 men, which is unlikely, we leave their withdrawal to their team’s discretion.

He pointed out that FIH’s own rules contained a rule on minimum requirements for competitors, but the IOC decided to remove that rule in Tokyo in 2020.

what if

When the Olympics are held uncertainly in the midst of a pandemic, however, everyone what if assume gravitas, no matter how hypothetical or far-fetched. Not just positive COVID-19 cases where a close connection to someone is infected with the virus may also cause the player to isolate themselves, forcing them to skip the match and leave the team short-handed.

Because of this, the team should get into the finals according to hockeys SSR and have to withdraw COVID-19 In a team, the team they win in the semifinals gets a chance to compete in the finals. Lost the finalist and the team that had to resign COVID-19 in both cases, silver medals will be awarded.

In a situation where both teams reaching the finals have to withdraw COVID-19 , gold medals will be awarded to both teams.

Similarly, if both losing semi-finals have to be drawn before a bronze medal, both teams will be awarded bronze medals.

There is also a scenario where there will be a gold medalist and a bronze medalist, but no team will receive silver. This is what happens if two teams retreat before meeting each other in the quarterfinals. In this scenario, the winner of the second semi-final is a gold medalist, while the losing team is a bronze medalist.

Very complex

All of these elements are very complex, said FIHs Weil. I honestly believe these situations don’t happen during games. That is unlikely. We can talk about whether this is fair to sport or not. But given that COVID-19 I honestly believe this is the best decision made.

He explained that while all the hockeys SSR question marks rose in the semis and finals, they had drawn up the rules keeping in mind the previous steps as well.

He added that the decision had also been made after consulting the Athletes Committee. As an athlete, you don’t want to get a medal because others couldn’t continue the competition. The decision was made because if you decide to lead the games, you want competition. I think any team would rather play against an opponent and win a gold medal instead of getting it because the other team couldn’t play. It is not ideal, but because of the situation, it is the only solution that I think could have been implemented.

The criteria that give the losing semi-finalist a second chance by advancing to the finals have raised eyebrows.

One of the theories surrounding this decision is that the hockey program will not be denied the summit that is likely to receive the most eyeballs and the highest ratings on television at these Olympics, where fans are banned from attending in person.

Weil vehemently disputed this theory.

This is completely wrong. I can assure you that the decision was not made on the grounds that we have to do this in order to get money from the IOC.