Japan won't have new National Stadium ready for 2019 Rugby World Cup

TOKYO, July 17 Japan's new National Stadium has been ditched as the main venue for the 2019 Rugby World Cup because its proposed design will be scrapped to cut costs and it won't be ready in time, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday.

The stadium, which is also set to be the centrepiece for the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo, had been scheduled to hold both the opening match and the final of the first rugby World Cup ever held in Asia.

Nothing definite was said about where the events would be held instead, but media reports said the final could be held at Yokohama's International Stadium, which hosted the 2002 soccer World Cup final between Brazil and Germany. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)