IOC chooses 2022 host city, winner to be announced Friday

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The IOC has selected a host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics, with the winner to be announced later Friday.

Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, were the only two candidates in the voting by the International Olympic Committee.

The vote was delayed by technical problems involving the electronic voting system, so the members voted again by paper ballot.

After the second vote, IOC President Thomas Bach said a host city had been elected. He said he would announce the winner at a ceremony scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. (0930 GMT).

Beijing is aiming to become the first city to host both a winter and summer games. Almaty hopes to take the games to Central Asia for the first time.