Tokyo (AFP)
The Japanese Sumo Association announced Monday the cancellation of the next tournament and its plan to organize the next one behind closed doors, when the country has just decided to extend the state of emergency until the end of May to fight the spread of the new coronavirus.
The next "basho" of the ancient Japanese sport, already postponed for two weeks due to the pandemic, was due to start on May 24.
The president of the association, Hakkaku, announced in a press release the decision to cancel it "in order to preserve the health and safety of the fans and those involved".
His remarks came shortly after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe extended the state of emergency until late May.
This is the first cancellation of a tournament since 2011, where the country had to give up that of the spring due to a scandal of rigged fights. And this cancellation was the first in more than half a century.
There are normally six tournaments per year and the association also said "to aim" to organize the July tournament without spectators and to move it from Nagoya, in central Japan, to Tokyo, where the wrestlers.
In March, the Osaka basho took place without spectators, but was broadcast live on television. The wrestlers had to take their temperature twice a day and had to sprain several rituals to limit the spread of the virus.
The closed world of sumo confirmed on April 10 a first case of coronavirus within it, in a wrestler of lower rank. Since then, a few cases have emerged among the lower grades and with a sumo stable master.
The wrestlers live in a hierarchical community within stables or brotherhoods, "heya" in Japanese, and the non-titular ones sleep in common rooms on tatami mats.
Japan, with a population of around 126 million and which registered its first case in mid-January, has reported more than 15,000 infections and 510 deaths since the start of the epidemic, far less than the figures published. by number of other countries.
© 2020 AFP