Tokyo/New York

The Japanese government is watching whether Russia will accept a decision to bar it from major international sporting events for four years for tampering with doping tests, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday.

It is very important for Japan, as the host nation of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, to provide athletes with a clean and fair environment free of doping, Suga said at a news conference.

Under a decision announced by the World Anti-Doping Agency, on Monday, Russia will be banned from the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Speaking at a news conference in New York on Monday, Yoshiro Mori, chief of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, said he is taking a wait-and-see attitude on the WADA decision.

In view of the possibility of Russia filing an objection with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Mori said he will wait and see what the conclusion will be.

The most important thing is that athletes will take part in the Tokyo Games fairly and equally, he said.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach expressed support for WADA's decision and proposed stricter antidoping measures at the Tokyo Games.

Noting that coaches, rather than athletes, lack enough understanding of the significance of the fight against doping, Mori stressed the need to raise their awareness.

Jiji Press