Tokyo selects new stadium design for 2020 Olympics

Omnisports 04:24 - 22 December 2015

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A new Olympic stadium for the 2020 Games in Tokyo has been selected after the original design was scrapped.

Plans for the initial design were shelved in July, with costs said to have spiralled to 252billion yen (£1.3bn), which would have made it the world's most expensive sporting venue.

Kengo Kuma's new design will cost just 149bn yen (£825m) to build, with an extra 4bn yen needed to design and maintain the stadium.

"I think the design chosen meets the conditions sought, such as basic concept, construction and cost," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at the announcement.

"I want every effort to be made so the new stadium incorporates the world's best barrier-free [facilities] and 'Japanese-ness', and is a stadium that excites the people of the world and a legacy of which the next generation can be proud."