Ishihara wants Tokyo to bid for 2020 Olympics
<p>Japan Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Tokyo on June 8.</p>
TOKYO - Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara says he wants the Japanese capital to bid for the 2020 Olympics.
Ishihara said in a speech Friday at a regular session of the Tokyo metropolitan assembly: "I want this to be considered. I hope Japan will be united in this effort."
Ishihara was the driving force behind Tokyo's failed bid to host the 2016 Games.
National Olympic committees have until Sept. 1 to submit bids for the 2020 Games. So far, only Rome has formally announced it will bid.
Ishihara said a bid by Tokyo could go a long way toward helping Japan rebuild from the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March.
Two thirds of Olympics
ticket hopefuls miss out
LONDON - Two thirds of those who applied for tickets for the 2012 London Olympics missed out in the first round of sales. Organizers announced Friday that 1.2 million of the 1.9 million people who applied for tickets ended up with nothing. Just 700,000 individuals - mostly Britons - split 3 million tickets between them after a six-week sales window.
However, those missing out will be given the first opportunity to buy tickets when another 2.3 million go on sale on June 24."We certainly understand people's disappointment," organizing committee chief executive Paul Deighton said. "But we think we allocated tickets as fairly as we could."
Tickets were not put on sale on a first-come, first-served basis and events that were oversubscribed were allocated through a lottery system. A third of the tickets have been sold to London residents, while the average successful application for four tickets cost $283. While tickets remain for sports such as track and field, others like track cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, modern pentathlon and the cross-country equestrian competition are sold out.
The opportunity on June 24 will include 1.7 million tickets for soccer matches across Britain on top of the 500,000 already sold. Hockey and volleyball tickets are among the other 600,000 tickets available starting next Friday. By next month, organizers expect to have raised $647 million from ticket sales.
- The Associated Press