AFP KIM KYUNG-HOON
On the first day of its relay run, the Olympic torch was extinguished and had to be recovered from the spare torch.
The Olympic torch relay kicked off from Fukushima today, four months before the start of the Tokyo Games, which have been postponed from 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The torch relay suffered a blow with the cancellation of many prominent runners and the withdrawal of elite athletes due to being notified late or due to infection concerns.
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About 10,000 runners are taking part in carrying the torch in Japan’s 47 provinces, and it was launched from the region that witnessed an earthquake and tsunami in 2011, killing about 20,000 people and escaping thousands of radiation leaked from the Fukushima nuclear plant.
The torch handover ceremony will be completed at the start of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23.
Most of the fans kept a distance to faint applause without shouting loudly as usual, and organizers said that the march will not pass through the most crowded places or will stop until the crowd disperses.
Source: “Ryanovesti” agency
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