The cities of Doha and Baku have been cut from the list of candidates to stage the 2020 Olympic Games.
Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul made the cut as the International Olympic Committee executive board reduced the number of cities from five to three during a meeting in Quebec, Canada.
Both Doha, the capital of Qatar, and Baku, the Azerbaijan capital, were rejected for a second time in a row after failing to make the final list for the 2016 Games which were awarded to Rio.
The winner of the three-city race will be announced in Buenos Aires on September 7, 2014.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies