The Tokyo Olympics ticket designs with pictograms are seen in this photo provided by the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

       TOKYO -- Some 910,000 Tokyo Olympic tickets, or 25% of the total, will be invalidated as the domestic spectator cap has been set at 10,000 people per venue, or 50% of capacity, to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections.

       The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee announced on June 23 that it would redraw the lottery for tickets for venues that exceed spectator limits.

       Tickets for a total of 97 events and event stages, including the opening and closing ceremonies and eight sports including baseball and soccer, are subject to the redraw, and the results will be released before dawn on July 6.

       According to the organizing committee, of the some 3.63 million tickets that have been sold, excluding those that have been refunded, about 910,000 tickets will be invalidated. The new lottery will affect a little more than 10% of all events and event stages, as more than 80% of them have not hit their spectator caps.

       The main events involved are those at venues with large capacities. For example, for the men's soccer final at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, which has a capacity of 72,000 spectators, more than 30,000 tickets are expected to be invalidated after more than 40,000 were sold.

       Tickets allocated for stakeholders both at home and abroad, including sponsors, are not subject to the redraw, but apparently their numbers have been reduced from the initial total of 1.7 million to a little more than 500,000.

       While the winners of the redraw can get their tickets issued, those who are not selected will automatically be refunded. Fans who are lucky in the lottery but still desire a refund need to apply by noon on July 15, and refunds will be paid after the games conclude. The organizers will not make additional ticket sales for events whose spectators have not reached their limits.

       If the lottery for the Paralympic Games, for which a decision on a spectator cap has been postponed to July 16, is redrawn, the organizers will notify the results from July 16, and intend to accept claims for refunds until July 26.

       (Japanese original by Hiroyuki Asatsuma, Sports News Department)

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