THE chairman pf the Fiji National Sports Commission Peter Mazey has set the record straight in as far as the budget for Team Fiji to the postponement of the 2020 Summer and Paralympic Games is concerned.
“The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games had been in the air for some time, and as such, planning was already in place.”
The FNSC chairman further stated that the Government, in alignment with the commission had allocated funds to ensure Team Fiji’s participation at the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“The Bainimarama Government, through the Fiji National Sports Commission, had already provided a budget for all the sports and their respective athletes, who were training for their respective qualification tournaments. However, it was only budgeted until July 2020.”
When quizzed on the plans and strategies the Fiji National Sports Commission has embraced because of the ‘grandaddy’ of all events being rescheduled to be held from July 23, 2021 to August 8, 2021, because of the coro-
navirus pandemic that has gripped the world, Mazey offered a positive tone.
“A number of athletes are still to go through their qualification processes, due to the tedious delays because of COVID-19, and as all of this comes into the new fiscal year which begins on the August 1, 2020, we will continue to work very cohesively with those identified sporting federations, Team Fiji and the Government, in proposing a new budget submission leading up to the new dates for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is public knowledge, by now.”
He added that it is work in progress by all the respective stakeholders concerned.
“The commission has already been in contact with our major sports and Team Fiji to prepare and present new budgets for the preparation period regarding participation at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and I look forward to receiving these in the next few days.”
Mazey was speaking with this newspaper, in light of the budgetary allocation to Team Fiji’s participation and respective athletes preparatory phases, to counter the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games by an year.
