IOC's Bach to visit Japan in May for relay ceremony, Suga meeting

（Photo: In this April 9, 2021, file photo, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, next to the mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, speaks to the media after a government task force meeting on new anti-virus measures, at the prime minister's office in Tokyo.）

TOKYO (April 17,Kyodo) -- International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach plans to visit Japan in May to attend a Tokyo Olympics torch relay ceremony and meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, sources close to the matter said Friday.
Bach will attend the relay event on May 17 in the city of Hiroshima, which was devastated by a U.S. atomic bombing during World War II, before meeting with Suga the next day in Tokyo, the sources said.
Bach is expected to reaffirm with the Japanese side their commitment to safely hosting the games amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the sources.
It will be Bach's first visit to Japan since last November and will come just over two months before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23.
Bach is also expected to hold talks with Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Organizing Committee President Seiko Hashimoto as well as Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, the sources said.