TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The host city for the 2020 summer Olympics and Paralympics will be chosen in Buenos Aires this weekend.


Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid are the contenders in a secret ballot that will be announced at 21:00 BST on Saturday, BBC reported.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) members will also decide which one of squash, baseball/softball (joint bid) or wrestling will be added to the Olympic Games programme in 2020.

A new IOC president will also be chosen to replace the outgoing Jacques Rogge.

The three cities battling it out to win the vote in Argentina to stage the 2020 Games are all struggling to overcome negative aspects that could torpedo their bids.

Istanbul 2020 suffered a setback from political protests this summer - some at proposed Olympic venues - and also a series of doping scandals.

The Madrid candidacy has struggled to deal with the issue of the Spanish economy, with high unemployment and workers having to endure pay cuts.

The Spanish capital's response has been to focus its bid on proposing a low-cost, austerity Olympics, using many existing venues and spending around a quarter of the money that went on staging the London 2012 Games.

Tokyo 2020 is considered slight favourite, but has also suffered a blow in recent weeks with fresh concerns over the leak of radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

By Tasnim News

 

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