The request has been made to the Mini Games organisers the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) reports the Saipan Tribune.

The Pacific Mini Games is due to take place in June 2021, the month before the rearranged Olympic Games in Japan.

“Our member-countries, the majority of them are Olympic Committees who are responsible for taking delegations of athletes not only to Saipan but also to Tokyo,” Pacific Games Council chief executive officer Danny Minogue told an interview with Radio New Zealand.

"That’s a particular challenge so we’ve advised our friends up in the Northern Marianas to start looking at some alternative dates that they may wish to hold the Games.

“We know they have to liaise with the governor, the schools, and other stakeholders. 

"PGC will patiently await the setting of new dates, if indeed the dates need to be changed.”

It is understood Minogue's preference, if it is decided the Mini Games needs to be moved, is for late 2021 or early 2022, in order to give the CNMI more time to prepare and recover from the coronaviruscrisis.

An oversight committee is in charge of the CNMI’s preparation for the hosting of the 2021 Mini Games and its members and officials are expected to discuss the PGC’s request.

The quadrennial event, which last took place in Vanuatu in 2017,  will feature six sports—athletics, badminton, baseball, beach volleyball, golf, and triathlon.

It was due to feature 12 sports but was scaled down after Super Typhoon Yutu struck the island in October 2018.

Ralph Torres, Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, announced in July 2019 that the Government would withdraw from hosting the 2021 Pacific Mini Games to concentrate on the recovery efforts, but after a discussion with the PGC that decision was reversed, to allow the islands to stage the event for the first time.