Staff writer

OSAKA -- The Osaka Municipal Government's plan to have sports organizations and private businesses host parties and tours of sports facilities for International Olympic Committee officials, expected to attend a conference in October, should be scrapped, an IOC official said Thursday.

"The new guidelines for cities bidding for the 2008 Games will be released in December. Osaka should refrain from entertaining IOC officials. That includes the use of private money to entertain or promote the bid," said Marlina Gueorguieva, an IOC spokeswoman in Lausanne, Switzerland, in a telephone interview with The Japan Times.