Wuhan dilemma for IOC as Hong Kong’s Rex Tso gears up for Tokyo Olympic boxing qualifiers
- The 32-year-old former professional is trying to reach the Tokyo Games as a featherweight and travels to Europe for training this week
- Wuhan tournament could be postponed or even cancelled as the city battles a mystery pneumonia virus
Former unbeaten professional Rex Tso Sing-yu’s hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics could become a whole lot harder with boxing authorities still deciding whether to go ahead with staging a qualifying tournament in Wuhan – the Chinese city that has been struck by a mystery pneumonia virus.
The Olympic boxing task force – set up by the IOC executive board – last year announced that Wuhan would hold the Asia/Oceania qualifiers in Wuhan from February 3-14. Wuhan is one of four continental qualifying tournaments with Dakar, London and Buenos Aires also staging events and offering opportunities for aspiring amateurs to pick up enough ranking points to book their places for this summer’s Olympics.
However, the Wuhan qualifiers could either be postponed or cancelled altogether after the Chinese city was struck by a mystery virus that has affected dozens of people. As of Sunday, 59 people were diagnosed with the condition and have been isolated. Seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable.
The IOC will have to decide whether to move the Asian/Oceania qualifiers elsewhere if the situation in Wuhan deteriorates. If another city decides to step in, they would have less than four weeks to organise it, providing a massive headache for the sports governing body.
The IOC took up organisational Tokyo Olympics duties after kicking out the International Boxing Association (Aiba) because of massive corruption and match-fixing at the Games.
