As Games face coronavirus risk, Tokyo flags chief hoists standard for perfection

FILE PHOTO: Tadamasa Fukiura, flag supervisor and consultant to Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games organisers, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tokyo, Japan February 20, 2020. REUTERS/Jack Tarrant

TOKYO (Reuters) - At 79, Tadamasa Fukiura has never lost his boyhood love of flags. But now the man in charge of supplying more than 10,000 of them for Tokyo's 2020 Olympics has a flag obsession of a different stripe - whether the Games will go ahead.

Doubts are mounting around the world that the Olympics can proceed as planned amid the coronavirus pandemic, with countries in all continents implementing drastic social and travel lockdowns. Still, Tokyo Games and Japanese government officials insist the event will go ahead as scheduled.