Japan vowed today to press ahead with its bid to host the 2008 Olympics despite the uphill struggle facing Osaka after a dismal International Olympic Committee report.
Bid organisers for Japan's second-largest city insisted Osaka would not withdraw its US$28 billion campaign to host the showpiece event, and the city got a surprise boost from the Australian swimming federation president.
"We believe Osaka is a good place to host the Olympics. The government will continue to support its bid," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference.
"Osaka has many advantages over other cities. The government will offer as much assistance as possible," he said.
An IOC report on the bidding cities released yesterday said potential traffic congestion in Osaka and concerns about funding for large-scale Olympic infrastructure projects counted against the city in western Japan.
Paris, Toronto and Beijing emerged streets ahead of debt-laden Osaka in the evaluation, with Istanbul trailing.
The Turkish and Japanese cities were all but dismissed by Hein Verbruggen, president of the evaluation commission, and senior IOC sources in Switzerland said they would be asked by Olympic chiefs to pull out of the race.
But Takafumi Isomura, the Osaka mayor and chairman of the bid committee, insisted the city would stay in the running.
"I don't think we were virtually beaten," he told reporters, arguing Osaka would make a compelling case at the Moscow meeting on July 13th at which the IOC will vote to decide the host city.- AFP