Tokyo organisers have expressed their delight that the Japanese capital made the cut to be one of three contenders to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee last week decided the race for the 2020 Olympics will come down to a contest between Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul. Doha, capital of the Gulf state of Qatar, and Baku, Azerbaijan, were eliminated from the bidding process at IOC meetings held in Quebec City, Canada.

“It is a great pleasure and true honour that Tokyo has been accepted as a candidate city,” Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, chairman of the Tokyo 2020 bid committee, said .

The IOC will select the 2020 host city at a meeting in Buenos Aires in September 2013.

The executive board, chaired by IOC President Jacques Rogge, chose the finalists after examining a technical evaluation compiled by a panel of Olympic experts. The board then voted on each candidate.

Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Olympics, received the highest praise in the IOC report, which said the Japanese bid presents “a very strong application.” Madrid has a “strong application,” while Istanbul’s project “offers good potential,” the report said.

As it did in a bid to host the 2016 Olympics, Tokyo is boasting a highly compact venue plan, which will see athletes live and compete right in the heart of the city. All but three Tokyo venues will be located within eight kilometres of the Olympic Village in the city’s downtown district.