Chinese athletes not to stay in APA hotel: organizer of Asian Winter Games

TOKYO - The organizer of the eighth Asian Winter Games (AWG) in Sapporo said Tuesday it will not accommodate Chinese athletes in the APA Hotel & Resort during the games that begin later this month.

The organizing committee has made arrangement for athletes from China and South Korea to stay in the Sapporo Prince Hotel during the games at the request of top sports bodies of the two countries, Hisachika Yamazaki, an official of the committee, told Xinhua over telephone.

The eighth AWG will be held in Sapporo and Obihiro on Feb 19-26.

To save costs, the organizing committee has chosen two local hotels as official designated hotels for the athletes, while the APA Hotel & Resort Sapporo is one of them.

However, the Japanese APA hotel chain has recently sparked fury among Chinese and South Koreans for placing history-distorting books in its guest rooms.

The books, authored by Seiji Fuji, the pen name of APA Group CEO Toshio Motoya, denied that the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of "comfort women" ever happened.

The Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) has urged the organizing committee of the eighth AWG to solve the issue swiftly and properly.

The COC said the APA Group's behavior violates the Olympic Charter which stresses that the athletes should compete "without being drawn into political controversies" and the competition should "provide a Games environment that lets athletes compete without distractions from divisive and emotional issues outside the world of sport."

South Korea's top sports body Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) has also demanded Japan not to accommodate its athletes in the right-wing Japanese hotel chain.