Results of Olympic ticket lottery to be postponed

Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics have postponed announcing the results of a lottery to determine which ticketholders can attend the opening and closing ceremonies as well as some matches for seven sporting events.The decision to postpone the announcement of the lottery winners until Saturday comes as there is speculation that a spectator cap could be further lowered. The announcement was originally set for Tuesday.

The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee and four other parties last month decided to allow up to 10,000 domestic spectators or 50 percent capacity of venues, if focused virus restrictions in Tokyo are lifted. The cap was based on the government's standards.

The government is to decide on Thursday whether to extend or lift the measures even as the number of new coronavirus cases in Tokyo continues to rise week on week.

If the measures are extended, the government's standards for a spectator cap would be lowered to 5,000 or 50 percent capacity.

The organizing committee, the central and Tokyo metropolitan governments and the International Olympic and Paralympic committees are to hold talks on spectator limits once the decision on virus restrictions in Tokyo is made by the central government.

Apart from the two main ceremonies, lots will be drawn for tickets for some matches of seven sporting events including track and field, soccer and golf.

The organizing committee also made the decision on Monday to move back the period for accepting refund requests for Olympic tickets sold in Japan. It used to be from July 6 to 15, and it will now be from July 10 to 20.

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210705_24/