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Sports

Construction of Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium completed

Tokyo, Nov 19

Japans new National Stadium, the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games main venue, has been completed a month before its official inauguration, the Japan Sport Council said on Tuesday.

According to the council, the final construction details were finished on Thursday with just final inspections remaining before the stadium's December 21 inauguration, Efe news reports.

The stadium, which will seat 60,000 people and was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, will host the Games' opening and closing ceremonies next year.

The venue is also scheduled to hold athletics and soccer games.

Its construction began in December 2016 -- about 14 months later than originally planned -- after the original design by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid was discarded and replaced by Kuma's due to spiralling costs.

The stadium's final cost stands at about 150 billion yen ($1.38 billion). Japan could not use it to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup as originally planned due to construction delays.

The first sports event to be held in this stadium will be the Emperor's Cup soccer final on January 1.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will take place from July 24 to August 9 next year, while the Paralympics will be held from August 25 to September 6.

The government plans to privatize the stadium in autumn 2020 following the event.

The facility is expected to start commercial operations in the second half of 2020 after undergoing renovations.