BREAKING NEWS

Japan denies report on 2020 Olympics payment, says bid was 'clean'

TOKYO - Japan on Thursday denied a report that its Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid team had paid USD 1.48 million as part of its efforts to host the Summer Games, saying it had won the bid cleanly.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that the Tokyo team had made the payments to a Singapore bank account it said was linked to Papa Massata Diack, son of disgraced former IAAF President Lamine Diack.
Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that he was unaware of the newspaper report.
"I am confident that our bid was conducted in a clean manner," Suga said, adding that should Tokyo be approached by French authorities on the matter, it would cooperate.