Olympics: Tokyo bid needs lobbying power: commentators

TOKYO (AFP) - Tokyo won praise from an IOC team scrutinising its bid for the 2020 Summer Games but commentators say it needs to boost its lobbying clout if is to impress Olympic chiefs.

The Japanese capital spent a reported US$6.4 million (S$8 million) hosting a tour by the International Olympic Committee evaluation commission who will visit rival candidate cities Madrid and Istanbul later this month.

Over four days, they attended functions and presentations involving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Toyota chairman Fujio Cho and other dignitaries. They toured existing and planned sites for 2020, where they were welcomed by cheering crowds of Olympians and citizens.

"We have been hugely impressed by the quality of bid presentations," the commission's chairman, IOC vice president Craig Reedie, said in his summing up on Thursday.