Morinari Watanabe, the general secretary of the Japan Gymnastic Association, hopes the president of the sport's world governing body will not be swayed by harmful rumors over Japan's nuclear crisis and has requested that the world championships be allowed to go ahead as scheduled in Tokyo this autumn.
International Federation of Gymnastics chief Bruno Grandi has been mulling amid the ongoing crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant whether to hold the Oct. 8-16 event in the Japanese capital.
But Watanabe, speaking to reporters Friday after returning home from Europe where he had met with Grandi and other senior FIG officials, said, "Inaccurate reports overseas (about the nuclear accident) have taken on a life of their own."