PRESSURE FOR TOKYO 2020 CHIEF TO STEP DOWN

Nearly 60 per cent of people in Japan think Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori is unfit for his role as head of the Olympics organizing committee, according to a poll conducted by Kyodo News on Sunday. The 83-year-old Mori, a former Japanese prime minister, said this week that women talked for too long in meetings. He later apologized at a meeting with the Japan Olympic Committee but has refused to resign. The comments caused a storm on social media at home and abroad, with a petition calling for action against Mori gathering tens of thousands of signatures. Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka said his comments were “ignorant.” The poll, conducted by Kyodo over the telephone, found that of 1,023 people asked, nearly 60 per cent said Mori was unfit for the position. Only 6.8 per cent of respondents said he was fit for the role. The Tokyo Olympic Games were postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled to take place this year starting on July 23.