New dates for Olympics could be decided by end of next week: Mori

Tokyo - 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

Tokyo Olympics 2020 Organising Committee chief Yoshiro Mori said on Saturday that the new dates for the postponed Olympic Games 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. This is the first time any Olympic Games have been postponed, with three other Games being cancelled during the two World Wars.