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IOC pres. visits Athens refugees center

Friday, 29 January 2016 11:26 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 29 January 2016 11:27 AM ]

International Olympic Committee chairman Thomas Bach plays football with youths during a visit to the Elaionas camp for migrants and refugees in Athens on January 28, 2016. © AFP

The International Olympic Committee's President Thomas Bach has been shown around a refugee camp in Athens and praised Brazil's efforts in preparing for the 2016 Rio Games, despite enduring political and economic crises, as well as the outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

On Thursday, Bach played football with refugees at the camp and met potential candidates for a 1st stateless refugee team at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Despite growing European pressure on Athens to toughen border controls, Bach described Greece's assistance to refugees, as absolutely extraordinary, and promised fund for planned sports facilities on the Greek Island of Lesbos. Bach praised the progress in Brazil's Olympic preparations despite the country's serious financial downturn, and also the recent outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

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