IOC chief Bach thanks PM Modi for his support to Tokyo Olympics

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has thanked India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his unflinching support to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which has now been shifted to 2021 because of the global coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to Modi, dated April 1, Bach said he was "grateful" to the Indian Prime Minister for his support to the Tokyo Games during the recent G20 Leaders' Summit which was held via video conference in the wake of the pandemic, which has left the world in disarray.

"Please accept my sincere thanks for the support you have given to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, expressed in the Extraordinary G20 Leaders' Summit Statement, commending the International Olympic Committee for contributing to the containment of the COVID-19 virus," Bach wrote in his letter.

"I am really grateful for your support for the Olympic Games and their unifying role, which the G20 Leaders' Summit had already expressed at your meeting last year in Osaka."
"Given the great work having been done by our Japanese partners and friends, Tokyo is the best-ever prepared Olympic city."
"Like you, we are confident that the Olympic Games 2020 will be a symbol of human resilience. They will again show the unity of humanity in all our diversity by bringing together the world's best 11,000 athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team."