Organisers bow to pressure for 'stay home' Tokyo Games

file photo, members of Uganda's Olympic team prepare to leave for Osaka, at Narita Airport in Narita, near Tokyo. With tens of thousands of visitors coming to a country that is only 13.8 percent fully vaccinated, gaps in border controls have emerged, highlighted by the discovery of infections among the newly arrived team from Uganda, with positive tests for the highly contagious delta variant.( AP, File)

Tokyo 2020 Olympics organisers have bowed to political pressure and rising COVID-19 infections andbanned almost all fans from the Games just two weeks before they start, after insisting that they could go ahead with spectators.

The decision, made after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on Thursday a fourth state of emergency for the capital, all but robs the Games of their last hope for pomp and public spectacle.