President Sahle-Work Zewde have encouraged the national team for Tokyo Olympic to aspire big success in all games ahead.
The patron of the Ethiopian Olympic team, President Sahle-Work Zewde has urged the athletes to raise the flag of their country at the global sports arena through coordinated endeavors.
Saying that Tokyo is a city where the legendary Ethiopian athlete Abebe Bikila registered a victory, she encouraged the team to maintain such a spirit of triumph and repeat a history.
Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the event was postponed in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will not allow international spectators. Despite being rescheduled for 2021, to be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021, the event retains the Tokyo 2020 name for marketing and branding purposes. This is the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed and rescheduled, rather than cancelled. The Summer Paralympics will be held between 24 August and 5 September 2021 after the Olympics.
The Tokyo 2020 Games will see the introduction of new competitions including 3×3 basketball, freestyle BMX, and madison cycling, as well as further mixed events. Under new International Olympic Committee policies, which allow the host organizing committee to add new sports to the Olympic program to augment the permanent core events, these Games will see karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding make their Olympic debuts, as well as the return of baseball and softball for the first time since 2008.
President Sahle-Work encourages Ethiopian Team heading for Tokyo Olympics
Kenenisa Bekele will not compete at the Tokyo Olympics
Kenesia Bekele will not be racing at the Tokyo Olympics, it has been confirmed. The second-fastest marathon runner in history, who finished the 2019 Berlin Marathon in 2:01:41, missing Eliud Kipchoge’s record by two seconds, did not take part in the Ethiopian Marathon Trials in May.
After the trials, the Ethiopian Olympic Committee, which has been at odds with the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) in recent years, assured fans Bekele would still be in the team.
However, in a joint statement from the Ethiopian Olympic Committee and the EAF on Thursday, it was confirmed that Bekele was not on the team. Instead, the four men’s marathon runners are the top finishers from the trials race: Shura Kitata, Lelisa Desisa, Sisay Lemma and Chalu Deso (as the alternate).
Bekele complained about the EAF’s selection criteria before back in 2016, he was left off the Olympic marathon team despite saying he was healthy and ‘ready for the challenge’. He told Reuters at the time how he was ‘deeply disappointed’ not to be going to Rio and claimed that some of those in charge of selection didn’t know the sport well enough.
‘The federation set criteria they knew very well would rule me out. I finished third in the London Marathon, when I was far from 100 percent fit. I’d done my preparation in full. Everyone knows that London is the toughest marathon except the people from the federation. There are groups there that know nothing about athletics.’
Bekele has not completed another full marathon since his Berlin Marathon win in 2019. He was due to compete in the 2020 London Marathon but pulled out, citing a calf injury.
As he will be 42 by the time of the next Olympics, in 2024, failing to be selected for Tokyo will mean Bekele’s ultimate sporting ambition to become the first person to win gold on the track and marathon in the professional era will slip further out of reach.
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Foreign players’ number in Premier League clubs slashed to three
Ethiopian Football Federation is set to slash the number of foreign footballers in Premier League club’s squads next season while Super League and first division clubs are no longer permitted to enjoy imported footballers service. The hot issue of banning foreign goalkeepers in favor of home-grown talents has not yet reached to agreements among the league clubs.
The previous regulation that permits premier league clubs to register a maximum of five players in their squad and a field maximum of four in the starting line-up has now changed for clubs at the top tier since they are now to register only three foreign players. Champions Fasil Ketema, St George, Bahirdar and Hawassa were of the few with four foreign players while relegated side Adama Ketema and relegation survived Sidama Bunna were boasting five expatriates.
It is not only the number but their performance on the field was questionable for most of the foreign players. Some clubs had had regular benches while others hardly delivering better than the local boys. “Ethiopian Football could be flooded with mediocre and past their prime players from neighboring African nations whose level is lower than that of domestic footballers,” critics suggested.
Though no one including national technical director Sewnet Bishaw and former national coach Abraham T/Haimanot mentioned the implication of the influx of foreign players in the country’s football, the latest move of the Federation is considered historic and a would be spring board for the future young talents.
Although importing goalkeepers denies opportunities for real talents in the most vital position of football the federation took a chance of postponing the decision until after the clubs’ intention towards it. Some clubs notably champions Fasil is said to be hesitant to stand behind the decision ahead of the coming international fixtures.
