Athletes' health comes first: Bajrang Punia welcomes decision to postpone Olympics

New Delhi [India], Mar 24 : Wrestler Bajrang Punia on Tuesday welcomed the International Olympic Committee's decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The wrestler also said that health of the athletes always come first and as a result, the decision to postpone the games was a neccasary one.

"I told you earlier as well that postponing the Olympics will be the right thing to do looking at the present scenario. Every athlete's health comes first, so as a result, I would say this is a good decision as coronavirus has put the entire world in a lockdown," Punia told .

Earlier today, for the first time in the history of the mega global event, the Olympics were postponed by a year.

The decision was confirmed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after the orgsing body for the event and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to reschedule the Tokyo Olympics in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Olympics were cancelled in the past but were never postponed.

In 1916, 1940 and 1944, the Games were cancelled because of the World Wars.

The Tokyo Olympics will now take place next year.

The IOC has, however, said that the original name of Tokyo 2020 will remain intact irrespective of the fact that it will take place next year.

"In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community," the IOC said in an official statement.

The Tokyo Olympic Games were slated to be held from July 24 to August 9, while the Paralympic Games were scheduled to be held from August 25 to September 6.

( With inputs from ANI )