LONDON: Keith Mills, who served as deputy head of the organizing committee for the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, reportedly said Tuesday that organizers of this summer’s Tokyo Games are believed to have a plan to cancel the events amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

“If I was sitting in the shoes of the organizing committee in Tokyo, I would be making plans for a cancellation, and I’m sure they have plans for a cancellation,” Mills said in a radio program of British public broadcaster BBC. He suggested that a final decision on whether to go ahead with the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics or cancel them will be made in a month or so.

The Summer Olympics and Paralympics have been postponed by one year from 2020 due to the global spread of the novel coronavirus.

“The challenge is whether enough competitors and enough countries can visit Japan and make it a really viable games,” Mills said.

“The prestige, the spotlight on Japan and Tokyo, they’ll lose that if they have to cancel, which would be tragic,” he added.

JIJI Press