The schoolchildren have had their say: A pair of futuristic digital characters will be the mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
Organizers unveiled the winning designs at a school in Tokyo on Wednesday.
A total of 205,755 classes at 16,769 elementary schools took part in selecting three short-listed designs, with their classes casting a single vote.
The winning pair, clad in the "ichimatsu" checkered pattern of the Games' official logo, received 109,041 votes.
"The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games finally have their mascots," said Ryohei Miyata, head of the mascot selection panel. "This means a lot, especially in Japan. I cannot wait to see these two characters coming to life in the stadiums, on the streets and on TV."
Their names will be decided by copywriters and other professionals and announced in July or August.
The selection process involving schoolchildren was introduced to get students enthusiastic about the games while also ensuring transparency.
The original official logo was hit with plagiarism allegations and scrapped.
The designer of the winning mascots is Ryo Taniguchi, who graduated as an art major from Cabrillo College in California, and is currently active as a character designer/illustrator. His work has been featured by companies and at exhibitions in Japan.
The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled for July 24 to Aug. 9, 2020.
Nutty no-hitter
In one of the wildest finishes imaginable, the University of Virginia baseball team earned a 4-3, 11-inning victory over William & Mary on Wednesday and threw its sixth no-hitter in program history in the process.
Starting pitcher Bobby Nicholson threw 5 1/3 hitless innings for Virginia (6-3), while relievers Blake Rohm, Grant Donahue, Riley Wilson, Mack Meyer and Bennett Sousa finished the job over the final 5 2/3 innings.
William & Mary (1-8) broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 11th inning, capitalizing on three Virginia errors -- all coming with two outs. The Tribe had scored on an RBI ground out in the top of the sixth and tied the game in the seventh on a Matthew Trehum sacrifice fly.
The Cavaliers were one out away from losing the game, despite not allowing a hit in 11 innings pitched. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 11th, Justin Novak chopped a ball down the third-base line that was fielded cleanly, but an errant throw to first allowed Charlie Cody to score from third and Tanner Morris to score the game-winning run from second base.
"You hear this all the time, but if you stay around the game of baseball long enough, you see something you haven't seen before," Virginia Coach Brian O'Connor said. "An 11-inning no-hitter, a collection of guys that pitched good and made some big pitches at clutch times. To have to come back and win it at the end and to have a no-hitter on the same night is really really special."
Sports quiz
How many college baseball national championships has the University of Virginia won?
Answer
One, in 2015, when the Cavaliers defeated Vanderbilt two games to one in the College World Series championship series.
Sports on 03/02/2018