POLITICS

After the news that shook the Olympic stars about the event being postponed. Ryo Miyake, who won a silver medal in the 2012 London Olympics has put on hold his sponsorship money. Ryo has said that as soon as the first wave of the virus hit the country last spring. He started scraping into his savings and eventually had to work for Uber Eats to get some extra cash around the pocket and to stay in shape.

During the first state of emergency around Japan, Almost all of the Gyms and training halls were closed down to stop the further spread of the virus. This played a huge role in the daily routine of many, especially harming the physique of athletes.

Since the lockdown in several countries and especially Japan has eased down, Athletes have again started to get in form by visiting gyms and continuing there day to day exercises.

After the news of the Olympics being delayed, Ryo has stated that it’s been extremely difficult to digest as “Olympics are like God” to athletes. Ryo has started training again and the sponsorship money has come back to him, though the Physical and Mental challenges remain.

Japan has had one of the highest numbers of Covid-19 cases and mortalities. Due to which a strong lockdown was required to control the further spread of the infection. Though the numbers have been still very low as compared to the U.S and U.K., in the recent few months, the country has been facing a huge number of different variants of the virus.

The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee recently stated that International spectators will not be allowed in the country for the Olympics and Paralympic games as every country have taken different steps to encounter the disease, Thus, some countries are recovering at less speeds then others. The situation is still very challenging and also, international flights also play a huge role as some countries have still not allowed international travel and kept it domestic until a number of its population has been vaccinated.

Like other countries, Japan’s cases have also fallen to a more reasonable level, But the risk is still there as Japanese are receiving the vaccine as a much slower pace as compared to U.K.

A vast number of Japanese residents are against the idea of resuming the Olympics due to the risk of the virus spreading between the spectators after the Government had announced the dates of Olympics. A Poll by National Broadcaster NHK revealed that 77% of Japanese think that the games should be further postponed until the virus is fully under control and the population has been vaccinated as perusing with the idea can lead to more spread of the virus.

An expected number of 11,000 athletes from around 200 countries will attend the Olympics this year.

It Is also to be said that this year’s Olympics will be different from all others as a huge number of restrictions have been added by the Government to prevent any infections. The huge opening and closing ceremonies will be cut-short, Athletes will not be allowed to give their teammates high-fives or hugs, Any sort of physical interaction will not be allowed between the participants. The athletes will be regularly tested and their movements will be severely restricted.

 

With the FIFA 2022 World Cup nearing up. Fans all across the world are seen extremely hyped for the big game. Specifically, The audience of Qatar was seen to be pretty excited about the World Cup being held in Qatar this time around as this would be the first-ever Middle-Eastern country to host the FIFA World Cup. But news from around the globe has told us otherwise.

After their game against the Gibraltar team, in which, Norway scored 3 goals whereas Gibraltar didn’t manage to score any. This is the team’s first qualification for the World cup since early 1998. Norway players were seen wearing T-shirts on which there was written “Human rights On and Off the pitch”.

Norway’s players were seen protesting against the World Cup 2022 being held in Qatar after a Guardian report last month revealed that the migrant workers currently involved in the construction of the Qatar football stadium were not looked after correctly, The report revealed that above 6,500 migrant workers have lost their lives during the construction since early 2010 when Qatar was given the right to host the FIFA World Cup 2022. The head coach of Norway, Stale Solbakken said “It’s about putting pressure on FIFA to be even more direct, even firmer with the authorities in Qatar, to impose stricter requirements.”, Before the game against Gibraltar.

“The mortality rate among these communities is within the expected range for the size and demographics of the population,” Said Qatar’s government, Also, The Chief Executive of Qatar’s 2022 FIFA world cup organizing committee Nasser Al Khater said that Qatar has been treated quite unfairly ahead of the tournament and the country was judged very early-on by the Court of Perception.

After the protests, A Spokesman for Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy told reporters that they are transparent about the health and safety of workers on projects directly related to the Qatar World Cup 2022. The construction of the stadium began in 2014, Where the number of work-related deaths recorded was only 3, Whereas the rest of the 36 mortalities were not work-related.

Boycotting the Match could also be a lay-down for the Norwegian team as this the first time that the team has qualified for the World Cup 2022 since 1998, Boycotting the match could lead the team to not participate in the World Cup and their chance to lose the trophy.

After the protest, FIFA told the News that “It would not take any sort of Disciplinary action as they believe in the Freedom of Speech  and in the Power of Football as a force for Good.”

 

After the protests of the Norwegian and German teams for boycotting the Qatar World Cup 2022. Netherland has highlighted the cause for improving the Human Rights in Qatar for the Migrant Workers. Recent news show that almost 6,500 migrant workers have lost their lives in the construction of the Qatar Stadium for the World Cup for 2022.

Qatar was awarded the right to hold the 2022 FIFA World Cup back in 2010 where-as the construction of the Stadium began in 2014, since then reportedly 6,500 workers have lost their lives due to poor arrangements for migrant workers. Netherland’s head coach Frank De Boer told the news during a press conference on the eve of team’s opening Group Match against Turkey in Istanbul, Frank said “A lot of attention is now focused on whether we should go there if we qualify.” He also referred to the Dutch Football association’s ruling on boycotting the World cup due to the situation of the migrant workers, He said “It is right to ask that question … Everyone knows that what is happening there is not good.”

Government officials of Qatar stated that “The mortality rate among these communities is within the expected range for the size and demographics of the Population. Though every life lost is a tragedy.” Before the Netherlands ’ coach highlighting the issue, Belgium Manager Roberto Martinez spoke to the news as he said “I think it is the time to face that situation and I think boycotting the World Cup wouldn’t be the solution, It would be a big mistake.” As teams have already trained and built up their enthusiasm magnificently, Boycotting the World Cup would not only highly delay the match but all the training and spirit of the players would be lost.

After being pressurized by Human Rights groups for years and years, The Qatari government has to take a huge step in letting go of the “Kafala” system in the country, Kafala system is basically a Sponsorship system where the Employee must take permission from his Employer, Who sponsored the worker’s visa, to change their jobs or to leave the country be it a final exit or just a vacation. The Kafala system also spoiled some of the Qatari nationals on solely living on the monthly fees they’d obtain from their employees. If the employee ever failed to pay their Kafeel (Sponsor). He would simply cancel the visa online or mark the visa as a Huroob ( Run-Away Employee ), After which the employee had to face jail-time or had to pay a hefty amount of fine to the government and the sponsor in order to get his papers cleared.

The Qatari government also increased the minimum monthly income to 1,000 RIYALS or $275 dollars for all the workers, Including the Qatar nationals.

A Spokesman for Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy told reporters that they are transparent about the health and safety of workers on projects directly related to the Qatar World Cup 2022. The construction of the stadium began in 2014, Where the number of work-related deaths recorded were only 3, Whereas the rest of the 36 mortalities were not work-related.

The Qatari Government also said that the health and safety reforms had helped to steadily reduce worker mortality over the last decade.

The Netherlands ’ team captain, Georginio Wijnaldum told the news that the players have discussed the issue, also said that “It’s a big topic, but we all believe we should go there if we qualify. Then we can have a greater impact on change.”

With over 120 staff and 17 branches, it’s owned by Peter Jones, a Dragon’s den star.

After having a major setback due to the pandemic, Jessops has announced that they’ve hired FRP advisors to help rejuvenate the business, the notice providing 10 days worth of protection from pending or existing creditor claims, with Jessops announcing the continuation of trade once the lockdown restrictions have been uplifted in April.

Leaning towards the route of insolvency processes that allow the business to pay off all or part of its debt through a Company Voluntary Arrangement(CVA), it is to be believed as somewhat of a rescue deal for most businesses.

Geoff Rowley, a specialist business advisor at FRP has said that they’re working with the PJ investment Group and the Jessops management to secure a reliable future for the business, he also added to that by saying that like most businesses during the pandemic, Jessops has also faced online competition as well as local High Street retailer competition due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

Clive Chalkley, Gowling WLG’s law firm partner has said; “For a business such as Jessops, which are a specialist retailer, their products can be easily acquired online, the pandemic only further accelerating the process.”

The documentary illustrates the rise of a Brazilian legend, peaking in the crowning career of The King, also known as “O Rei”, who was known to play a major role on and off the pitch in Mexico’s 1970 World Cup triumph.

Winning the World Cup in Sweden at just the mere age of 17, scoring all six times in knockout rounds and twice in the finals to defeat hosts to a 5-2 victory, later on taking the tournament victory in Chile, however injuries ended his involvement in the tournament.

Pelé’s stature got the spotlight in the film rather than the filmmakers focusing on football, staying determined that the stature deserved a documentary.

Pelé staying comfortable in his choices, even though he took a apolitical stance at an onerous period for his country – which didn’t seem to have phased Pelé – which is an opinion that was held by Ben Nicholas himself – one of the directors of the film alongside David Tryhorn – stating that there are people ready to defy the establishment coming to power, Pelé not being one of those people.

Not wanting to be seen as defiant or schismatic, Pelé wanted to be the guy who took pride in represent Brazil all around the world as well as his hometown, instead of being a person that hungered for power, being stuck to the program, he kept himself known as The King, having a motto that everything he does on the pitch is what brings him joy and happiness altogether.

Even though he called himself extremely “unlucky in World Cups” – as he was cynically fouled in 1962 & 1966, he wanted the tournament to continue without him, even though the 1970 scriptwriter’s dream victory film was a boast in confidence, the reality has been that Pelé has been fouled twice in World Cups before-hand.

Mexico 1970 was prioritized as a government issue, which presented a problem, solution being a yellow shirt with the number 10 on the back, asking multiple questions in the documentary, one question that struck out the most was if his views on dictatorship has changed, Pelé leaving the question struck saying that “My doors were always open, everyone known that, bad or worse, they remain open”.

Pelé and Carlos Alberto celebrated an iconic goal marking 4-1 as the final score where Brazil defeated Italy to take the World Cup for the third time, Pelé assisting Carlos Alberto who was the team captain to score possibly the best team goal in history in the waning minutes of the 4-1 victory over Italy, being one of the first World Cup to be broadcasted in color on Television.

David Tryhorn points out that there’s a great line to tell at the end of the film, whilst you were expecting Pelé to talk about joy and happiness, instead, he talks about relief.