The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) rejected a proposal by Hiroshima and Nagasaki to table a joint bid for the 2020 Olympics.
A senior JOC official told reporters on Friday the mayors of both cities had been informed of the decision by Japanese Olympic boss Tsunekazu Takeda and advised to consider individual bids.
“JOC president Takeda conveyed to them we must uphold the Olympic charter, so co-hosting is not possible,” the JOC’s Olympic cooperation director Yasuhiro Nakamori said. “It’s possible Hiroshima could make a solo bid. The city staged the 1994 Asian Games. But it would be a bit difficult for Nagasaki to stage such a big international event.”
Takeda held talks with the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Tokyo earlier on Friday and refused to rule either venue out of the running.
“Hiroshima and Nagasaki both have a very good chance of staging an Olympics on their own,” Takeda told reporters.
Tokyo, which lost out to Rio de Janeiro in October’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote for the 2016 Games, is also in contention to become Japan’s 2020 bid city.
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