Tokyo, Mar 24 (UNI) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday announced that Japan and the International Olympic Committee have agreed to postpone the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games by one year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Abe made the announcement after a teleconference with IOC chief Thomas Bach, putting an end to two months speculation of the future of the Games since the outbreak of coronavirus in late January.
"I proposed to Mr Bach that we postpone the Olympic Games for a year. He 100 per cent agrees with me," Abe said in a statement as reported by Japan's NHK public television.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori and Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto also attended the teleconference.
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