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Reports: Organisers eye July 23, 2021 as start date for delayed Games

Decision could be made in a week, says Tokyo 2020 organising committee chief

Tokyo Olympics organisers are eyeing July 23, 2021 as a start date for the postponed Games, Japanese media reported yesterday, following the historic decision to delay the event due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Given the ongoing global outbreak and the need for preparation time, the most likely plan would be for the Games to begin in July next year, public broadcaster NHK said, citing sources within the organising panel.

This means the quadrennial multi-sport event will still be taking place during Tokyo's hottest time of the year, which had sparked concerns earlier.

This prompted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to move the marathon and race-walking events from the capital to the northern Sapporo city.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee, led by president Yoshiro Mori, are currently discussing possible dates with the IOC, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

On Saturday, Mori told a Japanese TV station that "some kind of conclusion" would be reached within a week.

The Olympics were scheduled to open on July 24 this year with the Paralympics on Aug 25, but Japan announced last week it had secured agreement from the IOC to postpone the Games - a decision unprecedented in peacetime.

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said they would be held in around a year instead, as a testament to humanity's victory over the pandemic.

The decision had been seen to open options for Tokyo, with IOC chief Thomas Bach saying that "all the options are on the table" and rescheduling "is not restricted just to the summer months".

Meanwhile, NHK said the Olympic flame would be displayed for a month at the J-Village sports complex in Fukushima, which was used as a base camp for thousands of relief workers in radiation protection suits during the 2011 nuclear disaster. - AFP

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