Reigning champion and twice tennis gold medallist Andy Murray says an Olympics amid the pandemic is more relevant than ever, and that the Tokyo Games can provide hope for those who have suffered during the last 18 months. “In so many ways, right now it’s more important than ever that people around the world get to reconnect to the raw emotion of sport, watch incredible performances and celebrate the achievement of athletes coming from around the world,” Murray said.

Covid blow

Three athletes of three different countries were ruled out of the Games after testing positive for Covid-19 in Tokyo on Wednesday. Chilean taekwondo player Fernanda Aguirre, Dutch skateboarder Candy Jacobs and Czech paddler Pavel Sirucek were forced to withdraw from their respective events on Wednesday.

Equestrian ban

The Australian Olympic Committee said show jumper Jamie Kermond has been removed from the equestrian team after testing positive for cocaine. Equestrian Australia had earlier said Kermond returned a positive A-sample for a meta-bolite of cocaine on June 26.

Training confusion

India’s 10m air rifle shooters had to make do with just 20 minutes of training at the Asaka Shooting Range due to an issue arising out of distribution of time slots. While the other Indian shooters trained for more than two hours, the rifle teams, including Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan, saw their practice sessions reduced to less than half an hour.

Heat wave

Many of the world’s top athletes will suffer along with Tokyoites in the “ridiculous” heat of Japan’s high summer as the sweltering temperatures pose an added burden for the visiting participants. Japan’s weather bureau issued heat-stroke alerts for a fifth day on Wednesday.