MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russian pentathletes Alexander Lifanov, Gulnaz Gubaidullina and Ulyana Batashova have been selected to represent the national team at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, team’s Head Coach Andrei Moiseyev told TASS on Monday.
"Lifanov, Gubaidullina and Batashova will travel to Tokyo," the coach said. "The team sets the aim to demonstrate a successful performance in Tokyo and to fight for medals".
"Our final stage of preparations will be held in Moscow, and we will then take off to Japan," Moiseyev added.
Following the pre-Games international qualification tournaments in pentathlon, Russian athletes secured four Olympic licenses - one in male competitions (Lifanov) and three in female competitions (Gubaidullina, Batashova and Adelina Ibatullina). According to regulations, each nation can be granted not more than two Olympic licenses in each gender category, therefore Ibatullina is not on the team’s roster.
The 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Japan’s capital of Tokyo will be held this year between July 23 and August 8. In March 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to postpone for one year the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Japan due to the COVID-19 spread.
As of today, Japan is ranked 34th globally in terms of reported COVID-19 cases, which currently stand at over 785,280. A total of over 14,423 people have died of the novel coronavirus infection there, while more than 750,430 have recovered from the illness.