AFP, Tokyo :
The Olympic flame arrived in Tokyo on Friday but the public was kept away from a low-key welcoming ceremony over coronavirus fears, after a “heartbreaking” announcement that spectators would be banned from most Games events.
On a rainy morning two weeks before the opening of the biggest sports tournament since the pandemic began, the flame was brought on stage in a lantern and handed to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
Despite disruption to the nationwide torch relay, “it has been transmitted as a way of hope,” Koike said.
Tokyo 2020 organisers and government officials on Thursday night announced their decision to bar fans from Olympic events in the capital, which will be under a virus emergency throughout the Games.It means the pandemic-postponed Games will be the first to take place largely behind closed doors, with a handful of competitions taking place outside the capital.
