Olympic Leaders, Japan Prime Minister Deny Report About Tokyo Games Cancellation

Date: 22 January 2021 - 21:32

News ID: ۸۶۷۷۶

TOKYO (Dispatches) - Tokyo Olympic organizers, the IOC and the Japanese government said the Games are still set to open July 23, opposing a Thursday report that quoted an unnamed source that suggested the Tokyo Games would have to be canceled.
"All our delivery partners including the national government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, the IOC and the IPC are fully focused on hosting the Games this summer,” according to a Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee statement. "We hope that daily life can return to normal as soon as possible, and we will continue to make every effort to prepare for a safe and secure Games.”
The IOC on Friday referred to a Japanese government statement that called the report "categorically untrue.”
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told his parliament that he was determined to realize the Olympics and would work closely with the IOC, according to Reuters.
John Coates, an IOC vice president and its coordination commission chair for the Tokyo Games, said the Olympics are "proceeding fully,” noting IOC President Thomas Bach had a previously scheduled briefing with all IOC members on Thursday and one set with National Olympic Committee presidents, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.