Scrapped Tokyo Olympic stadium architect bidding for new design

Architect Zaha Hadid will take another crack at designing Tokyo's 2020 Olympics stadium, her Japanese business partner said Monday, after an initial proposal was scrapped due to its eye-watering $2 billion price tag.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shocked Olympic organisers in July when he pulled the plug on the Iraqi-British architect's winning design as soaring costs put it on course to become the world's most expensive sports stadium.

The futuristic design had also been criticised by some architects who said it would be an eyesore.

Tokyo has launched a new tender and hopes to have a fresh blueprint chosen before the end of this year.

Hadid -- who earlier rejected government claims that cost overruns were due to her design -- said she would go back to the drawing board with partner Japanese design firm Nikken Sekkei.

The two had worked together on the original winning design.

"Our team in Japan and the UK have worked closely with Nikken Sekkei to develop a design for the new national stadium for Japan that meets the government's core principles," Hadid said in a statement.

Japan slashed the cost of the new Olympic stadium by more than 40 percent, setting a 155 billion yen ($1.28 billion) cap on construction costs, well below the 265 billion yen estimated under the now-ditched design.

In a video released with the statement, Hadid's firm said creating a new stadium from scratch was "an unnecessary risk".

"The current design can be re-designed to achieve a cheaper budget but it should be retained in principle," it said.

The company added that its rejigged stadium could be ready in time for the 2019 rugby World Cup, being hosted by Japan.

Tokyo had angered World Rugby as it warned that the venue would not be ready for the event.

The International Olympic Committee has demanded that Japan complete its new national stadium by January 2020, three months earlier than planned. Tokyo is due to host the opening ceremony on July 24 that year.