Since the decision of postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were announced, we have been exploring the possibility of holding the World Masters Games 2021 Kansai in May 2021 as originally scheduled up until today, with the assumption that the situation of the new Coronavirus infectious disease to be under control.
What is the World Masters Games?
The worldwide Sports Festival “World Masters Games” allows anyone who is around 30 years and older to participate.
The “World Masters Games” started with the 1985 games held in Toronto and is held every four years at locations around the world. It is the world’s largest lifelong sports competition with over 170,000 sports enthusiasts participating so far.
The sequence of consideration up until today
Under the circumstances of many sporting events being cancelled, athletes and sports enthusiasts were looking forward to the Games holding. We are eager to meet these expectations, therefore we requested expert’s advice in order to hold the Games as scheduled under the severe infection circumstances. As a result, we have reached the conclusion that the competition are able to be conducted by fulfilling two conditions, one complete measure against the new coronavirus infectious disease and two ease the restriction of immigration regulations. We expect that those two conditions are able to be realized.
Decision on postponement
In light of the above, we have been conducting much careful discussions with host municipalities, co-organisers, NFs, sponsors and International Masters Games Association (IMGA).As a result, we held an Organising Committee’s board meeting on October 28, 2020 and reached the conclusion of postponement policy; to postpone the Games to the time which we believe it would be the most practical time to hold the Games.
Regarding the result of IMGA General Assembly (November 5, 2020):
• It has been approved to postpone the World Masters Games Kansai 2021 for one year (to hold it in 2022).
• It has been confirmed that we will continue to adjust the Games dates for WMG2021 Kansai accompanied by the postponement.
Proposal / Outline of the Games:
• Name: World Masters Games 2021 KANSAI (As it is now)
• Dates: 17 days from Friday 13th to Sunday 29th, May, 2022
• Sport & Discipline: 59 disciplines of 35 sports
• Target number of participants: 50,000 (30,000 from Japan and 20,000 from overseas)
How we will deal with the participants following the accompanied by the postponement:
• Spots for those who already made an entry will be secured.
• About the age category change for the participants accompanied by the postponement, we will follow the policy of each International Sport Federation (IF).
• When those who already made an entry cancels upon receiving the announcement of the Games policy, we give a refund by deducting 5% handling fee.
Initiatives for the Future
We apologise for any inconvenience which may cause to more than 14,000 participants who have already registered to the Games, however above all, we will make a decision on the necessary matters as promptly as possible in order to respond with full consideration to those participating in the Games. In addition, we would like to make our best effort to resolve various challenges in cooperation with the host municipalities, NFs, and sponsors who have worked hard to prepare for the Games.
Public Interest Incorporated Foundation
The Organising Committee of the World Masters Games 2021 Kansai
President Toshizo IDO
President Masayoshi MATSUMOTO
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