Tokyo 2020: Australia withdraw from Olympic baseball qualifying tournament over Covid-19
- Published
Baseball Australia won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics
Australia have withdrawn from the final baseball qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics over Covid-19.
The "insurmountable" challenges to logistics and safety forced the decision, Baseball Australia chief executive Glenn Williams said.
The qualifying event was moved from Taiwan to Mexico last month over concerns of a surge in Covid-19 cases - and despite a rise in cases in Mexico.
Australia won a baseball silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Williams, who was part of that team, said even if they had won the tournament, the timing of the event and the mandatory completion of quarantining would still not have fitted with "requirements of entry" for the Tokyo Olympics.
Taiwan and China have already withdrawn from the qualifier over coronavirus concerns, leaving only three teams left in the competition.
Baseball will be making its first appearance at an Olympics since the Beijing Games in 2008.
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