The International Swimming Federation (FINA) has announced that next year’s World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka will now take place in 2022.
New dates of between May 13 and 29 have been set for the flagship event in the Japanese city, after action was originally scheduled for July 16 to August 1 in 2021.
FINA had to move its Championships after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were also moved back a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new dates for the Olympics of July 23 to August 8 directly clashed with the event in Fukuoka.
“After liaising with the relevant stakeholders and receiving feedback from them, we have no doubt that the decision taken will provide the best possible conditions for all participants at the Championships,” said FINA President Julio Maglione.
“We look forward to witnessing the world’s best aquatic athletes from around the world competing in the city of Fukuoka in 2022.
“At a time of unprecedented uncertainty, FINA hopes the announcement of these dates will allow for some clarity in planning for all concerned”, he added.
In another radar, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Batra has said the country is “serious” about bidding for the 2032 Summer Olympics and the 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
India announced in 2018 that it would submit expressions of interest for a series of sporting events.
This included the 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games, the 2030 Asian Games and the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The IOA officially submitted a letter of interest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of its intention to bid for the 2032 Olympics in December 2018.
India opted against bidding for the 2030 Asian Games, however, with Qatar and Saudi Arabia confirmed as the two candidates for the event last month.
The IOA did, however, agree to back a bid to host the 2026 or 2030 Commonwealth Games in December.
IOA President Batra has claimed the organisation has begun preparing documentation around potential bids for the 2026 Summer Youth Olympics and 2032 Olympic Games.
He said the process has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic but will likely resume in December.
“We are serious and definitely pitching for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games and the 2032 Olympics,” Batra, an IOC member who is the President of the International Hockey Federation, told Agence France-Presse.
“Now there is a team that visits the various venues and you keep talking to them and then they submit a report.
“It is a continuous process which I believe will see no activity until December.
“This is not the time to talk with business houses or Government about pitching for the Olympics.
“The first thing should be how we sort out this problem which has come into the world.”
Indian IOC member Nita Ambani claimed in March that a successful Youth Olympic Games bid would enhance the country’s chances of hosting the Olympic Games.
