Baseball, softball in Fukushima for Games

Mar 17, 2017 - 4:39 AM Baseball and softball are to be played in Fukushima at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced Friday at a meeting in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang.

The committee approved the use of Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium as an additional venue for the sports, which are returning to the Olympic schedule in 2020 after being absent since 2008.

Yokohama Stadium, just south of Tokyo, will be the main venue for the sports.

Japan's Fukushima prefecture was hit by an earthquake and a subsequent tsunami in 2011, triggering a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

The twin natural disasters left some 18,500 people dead or missing, while some 123,000 people who were evacuated still have not returned home. Authorities have struggled to deal with the radiation- contaminated water used to keep the reactors cool.

"By hosting Olympic baseball and softball events, Fukushima will have a great platform to show the world the extent of its recovery in the ten years since the disaster," Yoshiro Mori, head of Tokyo 2020's organizing committee, said.

Pyeongchang is hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Source: AAP