Stadium row dwarfs Tokyo 2020 sports bids

TOKYO: Twenty-six sports, from sumo to surfing, have applied for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics, Tokyo organisers said Friday amid a flaming row over who will pay for the main stadium.
Tug of war, polo and the World Underwater Federation — which oversees sports such as free diving, spearfishing and submerged hockey — will also hope to make the shortlist that Tokyo will announce on June 22.
Baseball and softball, hugely popular in Japan, are tipped to make the cut when Tokyo officials submit their final proposals to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in September, while karate, billiards and American football will hope to join them.
“There are some sports that frankly I’d never heard of,” Tokyo Olympic chief Yoshiro Mori told a news conference.
“Sports that appeal to the younger generation will be among the criteria, but we also have to be mindful of cost.”
However, local politics overshadowed the main agenda once again with Tokyo’s leaders furious at government demands the city contribute around $400 million towards the cost of the new National Stadium as the saga took another twist.
The Olympic stadium has faced two years of widespread criticism, with prominent Japanese architects lambasting Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid’s futuristic designs, and the budget has been slashed by 40 percent.