IOC President To Discuss Delayed Olympics With Tokyo Organisers

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International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach is to meet the 2020 Tokyo Games’ organisers and the city’s Gov. Yuriko Koike next week, the local organising committee said on Friday.

The meeting is being held to discuss the postponed Olympics amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bach and a small IOC delegation are due to arrive in Tokyo on Sunday for a four-day stay.

Recent surges of the coronavirus in Japan, Europe and the U.S. have led more Japanese to believe the postponed Games will be cancelled.

“Cancellation is not an option,’’ Bach told a video news conference after an executive board meeting on Wednesday.

During his visit to Japan, the joint project review meeting with the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee will also take place from Monday to Wednesday, the Tokyo organisers said.

Bach is scheduled to meet with Koike at the city government office on Monday.

He and Tokyo organising committee president Yoshiro Mori are to hold a joint news conference in the evening.

The president is also expected to hold talks on Monday with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who took office just two months ago, Kyodo News had reported.

On Tuesday, Bach will visit the athletes’ village and the National Stadium, the main venue of the Games.

In March, the IOC and Japan agreed to postpone the Olympics due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

The Games are to be held from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021, followed by the Paralympics from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.(dpa/NAN)

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