IOC president thanks PM Modi for support to Olympics

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Thursday sent a letter of appreciation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the support he showed to the committee in the Extraordinary G20 Leaders Summit Statement.

"I am very grateful for your support for the Olympic Games and their unifying role, which the G20 Leaders' Summit had already expressed at your meeting last year in Osaka, where I had the great honour to address you, thanks to the generous invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo," said Bach in the letter.

"Given the great work having been done by our Japanese partners and friends, Tokyo is the best-ever prepared Olympic City. Thanks to the excellent and trustful cooperation we are enjoying, we are, like the G20 Leaders' Summit, confident that these Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, now being celebrated from 23 July to  8 August 2021 will be a great success.

"Together with our Japanese partners and friends, we have agreed on this late date in the year to continue following our principle to further contribute to the containment of the COVID-19 virus."

The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was announced on March 26 and on March 31, the IOC announced the new dates for the Games. It makes it the first instance of an Olympics being postponed.