IOC confirms three bidders for 2018 Winter Games

Switzerland: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today confirmed South Korea`s Pyeongchang, Munich in Germany and France`s Annecy as candidates to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

However, IOC executive director Gilbert Felli said Annecy was asked to review its sports sites for the next stage of the race to host the games. "The expert group decided that the cities of Munich and Pyeongchang should be retained without reservation," Felli told journalists. "For Annecy, it will be retained but we are asking that the concept of its sports sites be reviewed," he added after a meeting of the IOC`s executive board. The host region is due to be chosen by the IOC`s 115 members in July 2011. The South Korean mountain resort of Pyeongchang is making its third attempt to host the world`s top winter sports event, after losing out to Vancouver for 2010 and the Russian resort of Sochi in 2014 despite substantial local investment. Annecy, in the French Alps, is making its first Olympic foray with the smallest budget of the group, USD 21 million -- about half that of Munich -- grouping a range of existing winter sports facilties in resorts in the area. Munich, which hosted the 1972 summer Olympics, is also touting existing sports infrastructure in southern Germany, including the ski resort of Garmisch Partenkirchen. Final bids detailing their projects are due by January 11, 2011 ahead of an on site visit and full evaluation by an IOC commission which is due to report back on June 6, a month before the host is chosen. PTI