Ladies European Tour CEO Ivan Khodabakhsh "dismissed the idea that golf will be excluded from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after a British bookmaker offered odds of 10-1 on the prospect," according to Tony Jimenez of REUTERS. A host of big-name male withdrawals from next month's Games in Rio de Janeiro "has caused a media frenzy at this week's British Open." Ladbrokes "reacted to the furor by opening a book on the possibility of golf, which is returning to the Olympics in August for the first time since 1904, being excluded in Japan." Khodabakhsh said, "For Tokyo it is a confirmed sport 100 percent, golf will be there. It is now more about how we position golf in the future beyond Tokyo. Right now the stage has gone to those who, for whatever reason, are saying they can't make it. Once the Games start though it is all going to be about those who are there competing for their country." While the men's event in Rio "will be decimated by no-shows, world number one Lydia Ko of New Zealand is to lead an almost full-strength lineup of female players in Brazil." Khodabakhsh: "If anything zika should be a concern for female golfers and athletes and it's amazing the positive feedback we've had from our LET players" (REUTERS, 7/14).
CDC DOWNPLAYS THREAT: XINHUA reported the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday "downplayed concern" that the Rio Olympics will help spread the zika virus worldwide, saying that the upcoming Games only posed "unique risk" to four small countries.
In a risk analysis report, the CDC said that the risk of zika virus transmission during the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro "will be low because August and September are winter months in Brazil, when cooler and drier weather typically reduces mosquito populations." CDC Dir Tom Frieden said, "Even if the Olympics didn't exist, 99.75 percent of global risk would be the same" (XINHUA, 7/14).
