TOKYO: Japanese competitors will not take part in cycling and table tennis events in China due to safety concerns amid tensions between the two countries over a territorial row, officials said yesterday.
Cyclists, team officials, media people and a doping control officer from Japan have been asked by organizers to leave the Sept. 15-23 Tour of China over fears for their safety, a Japan Cycling Federation official said in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Kasumi Ishikawa, who won the women’s table tennis team silver medal at the London Olympics, has withdrawn from the Women’s World Cup to be held this weekend in Huangshi, China.
The territorial dispute, which has sparked sometimes violent mass anti-Japan demonstrations since last week, has already forced Chinese players to withdraw from this week’s badminton Japan Open in Tokyo.
“I have indirectly heard that the event’s organizers were concerned about the safety of Japanese participants and any possible problem caused to the race,” Tsuneo Owaki, the cycling federation’s event manager, told AFP.
Owaki said the Japanese team, including six riders and several officials, was on its way home from China.
It was uncertain whether Japan would still take part in the Tour of Beijing scheduled for Oct. 9-13. “I have no information at the moment,” he said.
Ishikawa had been Japan’s only entry in the table tennis World Cup.
“The Chinese Table Tennis Association asked us this morning to reconsider sending Ishikawa as it is deemed difficult to ensure her safety,” Japan Table Tennis Association spokesman Shogo Tonouchi said.
“Our association and Ishikawa herself think there was no choice but to pull her,” he said.
