Osaka's hosting of the East Asian Games next May will be a key test in its uphill battle to win the right to stage the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, Japan Olympic Committee chairman Yushiro Yagi said Wednesday.
"I think next year's East Asian Games in Osaka and University Games in Beijing will be an important factor in terms of IOC (International Olympic Committee) evaluation," Yagi told reporters at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Osaka was announced as one of the final five cities in the race to host the 2008 Games -- along with Beijing, Paris, Toronto and Istanbul -- at an IOC meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday.