Tokyo Olympics: Rowing races postponed due to weather and tennis heat policy activated

Tokyo 2020 Olympics organisers have cancelled two days of rowing with adverse weather conditions expected to hit Japan’s capital.

It comes on the same day an extreme weather policy was activated in the tennis tournament.

Temperatures reached 32C in Tokyo on Sunday.

On Saturday, world number one Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev both complained about the heat during their first-round wins.

The International Tennis Federation activated its policy once the reading went above 30.1C, with players given a 10-minute break between the second and third sets, and change of ends and set breaks were also extended by an extra 30 seconds.

“A lot of the competition schedule has been built when possible to avoid the hottest part of the day,” said Kit McConnell, sports director of the International Olympic Committee.

“But that’s not possible with every sport and, on top of that, there is extensive heat measures across all of the training and all of the competition, and that has been in place for a number of years.

“We will support the ITF in any measures that they are looking to put in place to address the particular points that came up yesterday.”

High winds are expected to hit Tokyo on Monday, creating “probably unequal and potentially unrowable racing conditions” according to the IOC.

Monday’s rowing had already been rescheduled, with races squeezed into the weekend’s schedule.

Tuesday’s races were cancelled on Sunday, moving to later in the week.