Overseas fans barred from Tokyo Olympics

Overseas fans will be banned from this summer's virus-delayed Tokyo Olympics, organisers said Saturday, calling the decision disappointing but "unavoidable" as they try to hold the Games safely during the pandemic.

The unprecedented ban will make the Tokyo Games the first ever without overseas spectators, with organisers scaling back their ambitions for the pandemic event.

Once billed as a party to celebrate "proof of humanity's triumph over the virus", the Games are instead shaping up to be a largely television event, with little of the international party atmosphere that usually characterises an Olympics.

In a statement the Games officials said the virus situation in Japan and abroad remained "very challenging".

They said it was "highly unlikely" Japan could guarantee overseas visitors entry by the summer, and therefore the ban on spectators from abroad was necessary.