The 64-year-old hopes that one day his country will be gold-medal winning participants in the event
A Japanese professor is lobbying for Hide and Seek to become a competitive sport at the Olympic Games. Yasuo Hazaki (64), is head of the Japan Hide-and-Seek Promotion Committee and hopes that one day his country will be gold-winning medallists in the event. He is lobbying for it to be included in the 2020 games which was given to Tokyo to host yesterday.
No playing Games: According to professor Hazaki, hide and seek is a sport that everyone can enjoy. Representation Pic
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The International Olympic Committee chose the city ahead of Madrid and Istanbul during a meeting in Buenos Aires. All three cities had been vying to become the host of the 2020 Olympics and each had spent millions in promoting their bids. Hazaki told the Daily Telegraph that he believes Tokyo 2020 would be the perfect occasion for the Olympic community to embrace his chosen sport.
He said: “I would like hide-and-seek to be one of the exhibition sports in 2020 and then it could become an official event at subsequent Olympics. I want to encourage sport for all, meaning that anyone can take part, regardless of age, gender or ability.” He added, “When you watch sport now, it’s all about world-beating techniques and skills - fantastic dribbling, running or shooting skills in football, for example.
“But that's not sport for all,” he said. “Hide-and-seek is a sport that anybody can play, from children as young as 4-years-old to someone who is in their 80s.” Hazaki added, “We are trying to arrange games all across Japan so many people can play, to see how much fun it is and that anyone can play.” “It may be difficult to get hide-and-seek into the Olympics -- the IOC just kicked wrestling out, and that is a sport that has been around for a long time -- but I see Tokyo 2020 as our big chance,” he said. u00a0
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