Japan Dismisses Olympics Cancellation Report As Teams Back Games

Tokyo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Jan, 2021 ) :Japan dismissed a report claiming officials see cancelling the Tokyo Olympics as inevitable on Friday, as heavyweights the United States, Canada and Australia said they were still preparing for the Games.

Deputy government spokesman Manabu Sakai said there was "no truth" to the report in The Times, which quoted an unnamed ruling coalition source as saying "the consensus is that it's too difficult" to hold the Games.

It is the latest article to cast doubt on the troubled 2020 Olympics, which were postponed over the coronavirus last year but have been hit by a surge in cases and plunging public support.

However, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday insisted he was "determined" to hold the event "as proof that mankind will have overcome the virus".

Tokyo 2020 organisers said they were "fully focused on hosting the Games this summer".

And the national Olympic committees of the United States, Canada and Australia all said they were preparing to send teams to Japan.

The statements from Canada and Australia contrast with last year, when they withdrew their athletes before officials took the unprecedented decision to postpone.

However, despite denying the British report, Sakai said a decision was looming for Japan.

"At some point in time, we will naturally make a decision as to whether to actually hold it," he said.

"Until then the Japanese government will do what it needs to do and make progress and prepare for it." Concerns have risen as Japan battles a third wave of Covid-19 infections, with polls showing around 80 percent of Japanese oppose hosting the event this year.

The Olympics have never been cancelled in peacetime.

But International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said there was "no reason whatsoever" for them not to go ahead on July 23 as scheduled.

"This is why there is no plan B," he told Japan's Kyodo news agency.