Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing will need spectators: IOC

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• Jul 21, 2021 | moderator

The Winter Olympics 2022, starting in less than 200 days, will need spectators to be successful, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday. The Beijing Games are all set to take place from February 4th to 20th of 2022. However, they still have to launch their ticketing program, which has been delayed due to the pandemic.

Head of IOC's coordination commission Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, stated that "We would like to have the international community there, We need very successful Games next year in Beijing. We really need that success for the sake of everybody, for keeping that light of hope really bright and open."

"We need and we want to have spectators," he told an IOC session in the Japanese capital. "We want to have the opportunity for everybody to enjoy the hospitality and enjoy the great Chinese offers," he said.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been delayed due to a pandemic. However, the game took place officially on Friday but got kicked off with some sports on Wednesday. The committee had already sold millions of domestic and international tickets before all the spectators were banned from the game for the rising cases of Covid-19 in the Japanese capital. The local population is also worried that the influx of ten thousand games-related athletes, staff, officials, and media can turn down the Tokyo Olympics into a super-spreader event.

Input: Reuters