It seems like discussions are ongoing about banning athletes from Malaysia.
A report by New Straits Times suggested that Malaysia may be banned from the Tokyo Olympics due to rising COVID-19 numbers here.
According to the report, the Japanese government has asked the organising committee to consider denying entry for several countries, including Malaysia.
It is understood that Japan has requested for a total of 10 countries to be banned from the games, which is set to take place from 23 July to 8 August.
The other countries include India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.
Stricter SOPs for athletes
If a ban cannot happen, Japanese authorities have allegedly called for stricter SOPs to be imposed on athletes from these countries.The suggested SOPs include a 14-day quarantine and not permitting athletes from the stated countries to train at the sporting venues themselves.
The report said that the athletes would only be allowed to train within their hotel rooms!
Of course, this poses a significant disadvantage to the athletes from Malaysia and the other nine countries.
Rojak Daily has reached out to the Olympic Council of Malaysia for comments, but we have not heard from them as yet.
On 28 May, the council dismissed that the Malaysian contingent had been denied participation in the games via its social media channels.
We're not sure if there have been new developments since then.
We'll let you know as soon as we get updated news on this matter.