ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION<br/> <br />The race to host the 2020 Summer Games is now a three-way battle between Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo after Qatar's Doha and Azerbaijan's Baku were dumped as candidates, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on<br/> <br />Wednesday (May 23)<br/> <br />The shortlist of candidates to host the world's biggest multi-sports event was announced at the IOC's executive board meetings in Quebec City.<br/> <br />Baku, which invested more than a billion dollars in sports venues in the past 10 years, was bidding for a second successive<br/> <br />time after falling at the first hurdle for the 2016 Games.<br/> <br />Doha, which was proposing to hold the 2020 Olympics in October rather than the usual July/August schedule to avoid the<br/> <br />Gulf Arab state's searing summer heat, is already hosting the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament.<br/> <br />The IOC will announce the winner between bids from Tokyo (Japan), Madrid (Spain) and Istanbul (Turkey) in September 2013.<br/> <br />Rome (Italy) pulled out of the running in February due to the country's efforts to head off a debt crisis.<br/> <br />London will host the 2012 Summer Games from July 27-Aug. 12 while the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will stage the 2016<br/> <br />Olympics.
