PARIS • All athletes who had qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will keep their spots for the Games next year following their postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday.

The IOC and Japanese organisers postponed the July 24-Aug 9 event on Tuesday but confirmed that those among the 11,000 athletes set to compete in Tokyo who had already earned their places would keep it.

The IOC also said that the number of spots allocated for each sport at the Games next year would remain the same. "The 57 per cent that are qualified do remain in place and the goal is to maintain the same athletes quotas across the different sports," an IOC official said.

The IOC and 32 international sports federations held a teleconference on Thursday when it was decided to respect the qualification process.

One of the participants in the conference told Agence France-Presse: "Thomas Bach (the IOC president) first explained the reasons for the postponement of the Games, then said that the athletes qualified for Tokyo 2020 would automatically be qualified for 2021."

Many Olympic sports, such as boxing, saw the vast majority of their qualifying tournaments either interrupted or cancelled due to the global health situation.

Others, such as sailing however, already had 90 per cent of their competitors confirmed.

Following the Games' postponement, United States officials also said that qualifying trials for athletics, swimming and gymnastics have been called off for this year.

Sources told Reuters new dates could not be set until the IOC determines the 2021 dates for the rescheduled Games.

On Tuesday, after telephone discussions between Bach and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a historic joint decision was taken for the first postponement of an Olympics in peacetime.

However, there is no definite date yet for next year's Games with Bach saying on Tuesday that the Tokyo Olympics "must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021".

It was reported on Thursday that the IOC is looking at a similar period next year, and a decision might be made in the next four weeks.

Some federation chiefs also expressed financial concerns during the call, claiming in advance part of the sums traditionally allocated after the Olympic Games by the IOC to the governing bodies.

Separately, the IOC's boxing task force (BTF) has hit back at accusations of irresponsibility as the number of positive Covid-19 cases grew to six after an Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in London.

The Croatian federation said yesterday three team members had contracted the disease, a day after Turkey reported positives for two boxers and a coach.

The event at the Copper Box was halted on March 16 after three days.

"Many participants were in training camps in Italy, Britain and in their home countries before the competition started on March 14 and have returned home a while ago, so it is not possible to know the source of infection," said the BTF, which organised the event after last year's suspension of world boxing body Aiba.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS