Paralympians Hannah Cockroft and Nathan Maguire back decision to cancel Tokyo Games
Hannah Cockcroft tells SSN: "It's not the news we wanted as we were feeling good and ready to go"
By Blake Welton
Last Updated: 27/03/20 9:58am
Paralympians Hannah Cockroft and Nathan Maguire are preparing themselves for a busy 12 months after the postponement of this year's Tokyo Games but they support the decision to delay the competition.
The Olympics was due to be held in Japan from July 24 to August 9, while the Paralympics was set to run from August 25 to September 6. Both have now been postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, with the World Para Athletics Championships set to take place between July and August 2021, and with the European Championships to fit in as well, the wheelchair racers are philosophical about the gruelling schedule to come.
Maguire, who is in the Government's 'high risk' category and has to self-isolate for 12 weeks, said: "We were expecting the postponement in the past few weeks but as long as everyone is safe and well when it comes to competing at the highest level next year, that is all that matters."
Although his partner Hannah admitted to being 'gutted', she also believes the postponement was the right decision to make, despite the knock-on effect it has.
"It's not the news we wanted as we were feeling good and ready to go," Cockroft told Sky Sports News.
"The next 12 months are going to look a lot different to what we planned but we'll just have to rely on our coaching teams and go back to the drawing board.
"It will basically mean re-planning the next five years to make sure we can be as fit and strong as possible and using this time to do that extra training we may not be able to do in future years now."
