UIPM in “close contact” with Ninja Warrior rights holder over Olympic bid

UIPM secretary general Shiny Fang has told Broadcast Sport that the organisation is in “close contact” with Ninja Warrior’s rights holder, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc., over the promotion of its new “Obstacle” discipline.

Obstacle will replace Equestrian in modern pentathlon, following controversy at Tokyo 2020 over the treatment of horses and a subsequent vote at the November 2022 UIPM Congress. This has led to a divide in the sport, with some supporting the new discipline and others feeling it is changing the sport at a too fundamental level.

Looking towards the 2028 Olympics in LA, the UIPM is hopeful that Obstacle can be a key part of modern pentathlon. Broadcast Sport spoke to the governing body last year about its hopes for the Obstacle discipline, which you can read here. Obstacle has a lot of similarities with the TV show Ninja Warrior, and the UIPM hopes that it can use the popularity of the show to boost its sport and attract broadcasters.

Fang said: “Once we have come through the two transition and learning years of 2023 and 2024, we will be able to present a good show from 2025 and we are very confident that broadcaster interest in modern pentathlon will increase.

“Actually, we enjoyed a growth in takers in 2022 and already in 2023 because of our shorter Finals format, with an elimination system reducing the number of athletes from 36 to 18 and all five disciplines taking place in less than two hours. Obstacle is so TV-friendly that it changes the game once again, making the sport more dynamic, understandable and attractive to viewers on TV and online.” 

She added on conversations with Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc, ahead of the campaign to promote the newly designed sport to the IOC and possibly working alongside the company: “Yes it’s possible, we are still in close contact with the SASUKE/Ninja Warrior rights holder, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc, and we anticipate having another meeting with them soon.”

In terms of how closely the Obstacle discipline will look like Ninja Warrior on screen, Fang was unsure, with more work to be done to integrate it into the sport: “At this stage, Obstacle will only be integrated to Junior, U19 and U17 events, and the course itself is a combination of Ninja and OCR-style obstacles but with a similar head-to-head sprint format to SASUKE/Ninja Warrior. For high-end events for senior athletes starting in 2025, it will be more relatively more challenging, but we will have a better picture after event experiences in 2023.”