Tokyo 2016 bid chief full of confidence

BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The chief of Tokyo 2016 Olympics bid committee says that he is full of confidence about the Japanese capital's prospects in the race for the world's top sporting event.

"We are very confident to be selected as a candidate city," Tokyo 2016 Bid Committee CEO and Chairman Ichiro Kono told Xinhua.

Tokyo is competing against Chicago, Rio de Janerio, Madrid, Prague and Baku in Azerbaijan for the right to host the 2016 Games. The International Olympic Committee is expected to announce the shortlist in June and choose the host city at its full session in Copenhagen on Oct. 2, 2009.

Kono, who is attending the ongoing ANOC assembly in Beijing to promote Tokyo's bid, said that the Tokyo bid committee is focused on drafting a "good plan".

"We plan to stage one of the most compact urban spectacles in the history of the Olympic Movement," he said.

According to Kono, venues will be located into two highly compact, overlapping venue zones _ the Tokyo Bay venue zone and the Heritage venue zone.

"Ninety-five percent of all competition venues will be in central Tokyo and within eight kilometers of the Olympic Stadium and Village, and athletes travel time from the village to venues will be within 20 minutes," said Kono.

"The heart of the city will be the heart of the Games.

"This plan will ensure that future generations will enjoy a rich sporting, social, environmental and economic legacy," he added.

Kono hopes that the 2016 Games will help Tokyo become a fully sustainable city with the lowest environmental load in the world, a new modern for the 21st century.

To stage an "environment-friendly Olympics" is another outstanding idea of the Tokyo 2016.

"A number of key venues constructed for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics are in the planned layout of competition sites, and we need to build only five brand new venues," said Kono.

According to a recent survey conducted by Japanese major daily Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo's 2016 bid enjoyed a high support rate of 72 percent among Japanese people.