Games organizers announced that the official mascot of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be unveiled in the summer of '18 "with the public design competition opened to everyone in Japan regardless of occupation or experience." Anyone under 18 "can still enter the competition as long as they are accompanied by a guardian, organizers said following the third meeting of a deliberation panel for the mascot." Selection Panel vice-Chair Yoshiko Ikuma said that whether "foreigners can enter the competition or not will be decided at the next meeting on Feb. 23" (KYODO, 2/13).
Int'l Judo Federation President Marius Vizer said that the IJF has officially submitted papers to the IOC "requesting a mixed gender team event be included on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic program." According to Vizer, the IJF submitted a proposal that a mixed team event including three women (57, 70 and over 70kg) and three men (73, 90 and over 90) be added to the Olympic program to "increase the value" of the sport as well as of the Olympic Games (KYODO, 2/13).
Global Retailer ASOS affirmed its commitment to supporting the British Paralympic team by renewing its partnership with the British Paralympic Association through '20. The partnership means that ASOS will provide formal wear and ceremonies wear to the ParalympicsGB team at both the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Games and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (BPA).
