Paris, Jun 26 (IANS): World Athletics has launched 'Road to Tokyo', an online tool to track the qualification process for next year's Olympic Games.

Searchable by discipline, country and qualification status, the tool will provide a real time view of each event over the course of the Tokyo 2020 qualification period which ends on June 29, 2021, said World Athletics in a media release.

As announced last month, the Tokyo 2020 qualification system already in force was adapted to fit the new dates of the Games, which were postponed in March. The Games will now be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.

Due to the uneven training and competition opportunities around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, World Athletics had announced on April 7 that the qualification period (for all events) was suspended from April 6 to November 30, 2020.

However, the qualification principles remain unchanged with athletes able to qualify through entry standards and then the World Athletics World Rankings.

Athletes who have already met the entry standard since the start of the qualification period in 2019 remain qualified and will be eligible for selection by their respective member federations and national olympic committees, together with the other athletes who will qualify within the extended qualification period.