COVID-19: Olympic flame to be kept in Tokyo

Tokyo : The Olympic flame will be displayed in Fukushima for a month before being kept in Tokyo, local reports said on Sunday.

Japanese broadcaster NHK said that the flame, which arrived in Japan from Athens on March 20, will be on display in J-Villiage, Fukushima from April, according to a Xinhua news agency report.

"The show will be managed carefully to avoid coronavirus spread," the report said. "It would be suspended should there is a big crowd."

The flame will be brought back to Tokyo but Tokyo 2020 has not decided where to keep it before the torch relay starts next year.

Meanwhile, Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori has warned International Federations that it will be a "major challenge" on deciding who covers the additional costs arising from the postponement of the Olympic Games.

On Saturday, Mori had said that the new dates for the postponed Olympic could be decided by the end of next week.The Olympic Games, which will be held in the summer of 2021 at the latest, is most likely to be held between June and September, Mori said during a program broadcast by Nippon Television.

"I want to offer some conclusions by the end of next week, after we've mulled it over," Mori said.

Mori also said in a letter addressed to the 33 international sports federations that the extra costs that comes from the postponement of the Games will be inevitable and a challenge to cover.

"Deciding who bears these costs will be a major challenge," he said in the letter which has been posted on the website of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The announcement of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics was made by the IOC and the organising committee in a joint statement after president Thomas Bach''s telephonic conversation with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.