An opinion poll over the weekend in Japan has revealed that around 80 per cent of the public believe that Tokyo 2020 should be cancelled or rescheduled.
The pandemic has cast a further shadow over the staging of the Games with Tokyo suffering a recent surge in infections.
In the poll conducted by Kyodo News, 35.3 per cent called for Olympic cancellation, while 44.8 per cent said the Games should be put back for a second time.
Asked for a reason as to prime minister Yoshihide Suga’s slide in approval ratings, down nine per cent to around 41 per cent, the survey revealed a lack of leadership as the main reason.
Last week, long-serving International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound suggested that the rejigged Games could be in doubt once more.
“I can’t be certain because the ongoing elephant in the room would be the surges in the virus,” he told the BBC.
His comments came after the IOC’s bullish stance that the Games would go ahead as planned this summer.
