The Tokyo 2020 Olympics refugee team will be bigger than the inaugural 10-member squad in Rio de Janeiro four years ago, the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday. The IOC unveiled a list of 37 refugees who are currently receiving Olympic scholarships and who will attempt to make the final cut for Japan next year. Among those are the 10 athletes who took part at the Rio Games in 2016. "At this stage we cannot say how big the team will finally be," said IOC President Thomas Bach. "What we can say with some confidence is that it will be bigger than the team for Rio 2016. All these 37 want to qualify for the final refugee Olympic team." The IOC unveiled its first team of refugees in Rio in an effort to raise awareness of the issue and it was one of the feel-good stories of those Games. The 10-member team from Syria, Congo, Ethiopia and South Sudan were in the spotlight after marching as the penultimate team before host nation Brazil in the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic stadium. They competed in athletics, swimming and judo. The 37 athletes working towards a spot in Tokyo will not necessarily need to meet international qualification criteria to get a place in the team but will need to come close. "Qualification does not mean the overall international standards," Bach said. "We want to identify those athletes who either fulfill these (international) criteria or at least come as close as possible to these criteria." The 37 are refugees from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria. They are training in athletics, badminton, Boxing, judo, karate, swimming, taekwondo and weightlifting in 11 host countries, but would come together in April next year for a joint training camp, Bach said. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2016 alone as they fled fighting in the Middle East and elsewhere, prompting the IOC to create the first Olympic refugee team. Tens of millions more are housed in camps in countries across the world, having escaped wars or armed conflicts in their home nations. India cleared to bid for sports events again-IOC The IOC on Thursday gave India the all-clear to resume bidding for major sports events, lifting a ban that had been triggered when Pakistani athletes were denied visas to compete in the country. In February the IOC suspended all Indian applications to host future events after two Pakistanis were denied visas to compete in New Delhi. The denial of entry visas for two shooters, who were due to take part in a World Cup event in February, followed an attack by a Pakistan-based militant group in the disputed region of Kashmir, which killed at least 40 paramilitary police. "We have received the assurances of the Indian government that they will in the future respect the Olympic charter and that they will give permission to enter India for all athletes who want to participate in the relevant events," IOC President Bach told a news conference. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) last year laid out an ambitious road map to host the Youth Olympics in 2026, the Asian Games in 2030 and the Summer Olympics for the first time in 2032. USOPC say it is making progress on reforms amid new legislation A top US Olympic official on Thursday said the organization is addressing its failure to protect its athletes from the sexual abuse of a team doctor, comments that come days after legislation was introduced aimed at reforming the body. US Congresswoman Diana DeGette on Monday announced legislation that would create a commission to look into the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its national governing bodies, which run the individual sports. The bill comes after USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 300 years in prison after more than 350 women testified he had abused them. "We are and have been very clear that the Olympic Movement failed our athletes," US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) chair Susanne Lyons told reporters following a USOPC board meeting. "We have also made enormous strides forward and significant changes and are continuing to do so. We're proud of the work we've done and we know that work is not yet completed ... and we are committed to doing it." DeGette's bill would require Congress to appoint a 16-member commission, which would include at least eight athletes, to study how the USOPC operates and provide Congress with a list of reform recommendations. The commission would have the power to subpoena witnesses and information from federal agencies as part of its review. The bill is similar to one introduced in the Senate in January. USOPC leaders have said that the organization has implemented new leadership and stronger accountability measures in an effort to create a culture free from abuse. It also said in February it would double its annual funding to $6.2 million for US Center for SafeSport, the entity, which investigates sexual abuse complaints raised by Olympic athletes. — Reuters
