In-person FIG meetings in Swakopmund have been cancelled for the second year running and will instead take place online ©Getty Images

An upcoming International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Council meeting has been changed from an in-person gathering to an online one light of the coronavirus pandemic, but the governing body continues to plan to stage a Congress in Turkey in November.

The FIG Council had been due to meet in Swakopmund in Namibia on May 20 and 21, but that has been replaced by a remote meeting.

The FIG Executive Committee cited coronavirus-related travel restrictions when making that decision.

Meetings of the FIG Executive Committee and Council in the Namibian venue in May 2020 also had to be called off.

However, the FIG still plans to stage a Congress in Antalya in Turkey from November 5 to 7 and has opened the registration process.

FIG President Morinari Watanabe will be seeking re-election at the organisation's Congress later this year ©Getty Images
FIG President Morinari Watanabe will be seeking re-election at the organisation's Congress later this year ©Getty Images

The FIG will again fund travel costs for a lone delegate from each affiliated federation in what it says is an attempt to encourage democratic participation.

Elections - including for President - are due to be held at the Congress, after the event could not be held in November of last year because of the pandemic.

Morinari Watanabe will be seeking a second term as FIG President, but the deadline for candidatures to be submitted is not until June 2.

The Japanese official, a member of the International Olympic Committee, was elected to replace long-serving Italian Bruno Grandi in 2016.