Olympic Notes: IOC Announces $2M Fund For NOC Refugee Programs

The IOC announced a $2M fund "that will be made available to National Olympic Committees" for programs focused on refugees. NOCs and other interested parties "will be asked to submit projects to the IOC for funding." The fund itself "is made up of one million dollars from the IOC and a further one million from Olympic Solidarity" (IANS, 9/5). ... The Int'l Table Tennis Federation said that table tennis chiefs were encouraged by what they described as a "positive" response to their pitch for an extra Gold Medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. ITTF President Thomas Weikert met Tokyo Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori in Japan and "outlined his proposal to add mixed doubles to the existing four medal events, men's and women's singles and the team tournaments" (REUTERS, 9/7).