INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The president of the Japanese Olympic Committee has announced he is to stand down amid a vote-buying scandal that French investigators
suspect helped Tokyo land next year's Games.Tsunekazu Takeda has announced he will resign when his term ends in June, but again denied
corruption allegations against him."I have not done anything wrong," he said
consulting company, Black Tidings, and its head Ian Tan Tong Han - made just before Tokyo was picked in 2013 by the IOC, beating Istanbul
and Madrid.French investigators have linked Black Tidings to Papa Massata Diack, one of the sons of powerful ex-IOC member Lamine Diack of
Lamine Diack was known to have huge influence over Olympic voters in Africa.Mr Takeda has said he was not involved in the decision-making
process and had no reason to question what he termed a "regular commercial contact" approved by others at the JOC.Pressure has been growing
on the 71-year-old with the games getting closer and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wanting to distance itself from another
scandal.A statement released by the IOC said: "The IOC takes note with the greatest respect of the decision taken by Mr Takeda to resign as
an IOC member."Our respect of this decision is even greater because he took this step to protect the Olympic movement while the presumption
of innocence, on which the IOC insists, continues to prevail."The favourite to replace Mr Takeda is Yasuhiro Yamashita, a judo gold
the games - three times more than it said it would when it was selected.