Since the time COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world, it has affected every area of our lives. One such important area is sports. Last year the Tokyo Olympic Sports couldn’t take place due to the pandemic. In March 2020, the sports lovers and athletes were not happy, because the International Olympic Committee announced the sad news. They said that the Olympics won’t take place this year. This happened due to the pandemic. The decision was to protect the health of the athletes. They wanted to protect the international community and the people involved in the management.
While on the one hand, the participants were sad due to the suspension of the event. But some other athletes agreed with this decision of the IOC. They considered this decision logical. This was because many of them couldn’t even find the opportunity to practice. Due to the lockdown, many players had to stay at home.
Exciting New Games in Tokyo Olympic Sports 2021
It is important to note that it is not the first time in history that the Tokyo Olympic Sports could not happen. The first time was during the Second World War. Earlier, the organizers planned for it to happen in Japan but then it shifted to Finland due to the ongoing war in Japan. The IOC also announced that the event will take place in 2021 before the winter season.
The Olympic Sports will happen this year with the addition of many new exciting games. This includes karate, surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, and baseball & softball. In this article, we’ll discuss all these new thrilling games. These games are in Tokyo Olympic Sports this year. We’ll discuss what these games are all about and how they conduct them in the Tokyo Olympic event. So let’s get started and explore each game one by one!
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The Addition of New Games
The organizing committee proposed the addition of five new sports in the Olympics this year. Following are the five new sports that are being added to the long list of Tokyo Olympic Sports 2021 this year:
- Karate
- Surfing
- Skateboarding
- Sport climbing
- Baseball & Softball.
These five sports intend to focus on Youth and they are popular in Japan. The President of IOC, Thomas Bach, appreciated this move. He called these sports innovative and fun.
Karate
Karate, one of the well-known sports in the world, finally became part of the Olympics this year. The game which started in Japan during the Ryukyu Dynasty was not a part of the Tokyo Olympic Games till this year. It was part of the Olympics in 1970. But it never became a part. Finally this year it debuted on the stage of the Olympics. The sport started at Nippon Budokan, the spiritual home of Japanese martial arts.
Moreover, Karate sports will consist of two disciplines for men and women both. The first discipline is Kata or forms and the other discipline is Kumite or sparring. In Kata, the players exhibit defensive and offensive movements against a virtual opponent. Then the players undergo evaluation on the basis of speed, balance, power, and strength. Whereas, in Kumite, the players will compete against a competitor of the same weight. They do so for 3 minutes. The players will get evaluated on the basis of land strikes, kicks, and punches on the opponents’ body.
Surfing
This year some of the best surfers in the world will join. They will celebrate their debut in the Olympics on the mighty Pacific seashores of Japan. Many athletes will compete at the same time, and each one of them will have 20 to 25 minutes for the competition. Each rider will get a space that covers an area of one wave. They will test on the basis of size of the waves, the flow of the tide, and strength of the wave. But, the athletes would not get judged on the basis of how many waves they catch. But they will get evaluated on how they surf on the large waves and how they use the schemes.
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Skateboarding
Another vibrant and cool sport that secured a place in the Olympics is skateboarding. Skateboarding in the Olympics consists of two categories for both men and women. The first category is “Street” which will take place on a straight path. It replicates a street with slopes, stairs, handrails, and kerbs. The other category is “Park” which is on a surface area with slopes and challenging curves. The participant athletes get evaluated on the basis of originality and difficulty.
Sport Climbing
Sport climbing is another exciting game included in Olympic sports 2021. To win the medal for this in the Olympics, the participants need strong finger strength. There will be three different categories for both men and women in sport climbing.
In the first category of speed climbing, two competitors will compete and race. They do so on a fixed path of 15 meter tall wall while securing themselves with a strong rope. The other category is bouldering. In this, the competitors will compete on a fixed route of 4 meter high wall within a fixed time. Finally, the third category is lead climbing. In this, the climbers climb as high as they can on a 15 meter tall wall. They have to do it within 6 minutes and by securing themselves with ropes.
Baseball & Softball
Women’s softball and men’s baseball are returning back to the Tokyo Olympic Sports 2021 after a two years break. This year only six countries registered themselves for this game in the Olympics. This also shows that baseball and softball are not played in other parts of the world. With very minor differences, both of these games get played in a pretty much similar manner. Soft ball gets played on a small field with a larger ball and with a shorter, lighter and smaller bat.
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Sports That Could Become Part of The Tokyo Olympic Games in The Future
Karate, surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, baseball, and softball are a part of it. American football, bridge, chess, billiards, bowling, polo, squash, and sumo were not there. But, these 21 games have the potential to become part of the Olympics in the coming years. We hope we see them soon in one of the world’s largest sports events.