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2020 Olympic host shortlist down to three

Jacques Rogge chaired the IOC executive meeting © Getty Images

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Istanbul, Madrid and Toyko will compete to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, after Baku and Doha were dropped from the shortlist.

The final list of contenders was announced at the International Olympic Committee's executive meeting in Quebec City, Canada, on Tuesday, after the 15-man executive board had reviewed the technical reports compiled on all five candidate cities.

The IOC will select the 2020 host city at a meeting in Buenos Aires in September 2013.

Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is hoping to host the sporting event for the first time since 1964, while Madrid and Istanbul have never hosted the Games. It is the third consecutive time Madrid has bid for the games - it was pipped by Rio de Janeiro for 2016 - while Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, is bidding for a fifth time in a row.

Toyko is chasing the event for the second time after coming third in the bidding for the 2016 event.

Baku, the capital of oil-rich Azerbaijan, was always considered an outside prospect - although could bid again in future after also being ousted in the 2016 process.

Doha, the Qatar capital, was bidding for the second consecutive time - and had proposed to re-arrange the Games for later in the year to avoid the searing summer heat of the area. However, this possibility was dismissed by the IOC.

Representatives for the Middle East city indicated that they will bid again, however.

"This is a great disappointment for the Doha team," said Noora Al Mannai, chief executive of Doha 2020. "With so many sports venues already in place and budgeted for, we felt that we offered the IOC great certainty and a low cost Games plan as well as an exciting legacy vision, especially around developing women's sport in the Middle East.

"However for Doha, it will always be a question of when not if."

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