Stadiums unveiled for 2020 Tokyo Olympics

​Two new stadium designs have been unveiled for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after organisers controversially scrapped a previous plan.

A winner will be chosen later this month, the Japan Sports Council said in a statement.

"(The winning design) will be selected by the end of December after further examination by a committee consisting of architectural experts and ministers," said Council president Kazumi Daito.

"We want to create a stadium that can be loved by everyone in the world."

In July, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the Government was ditching Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid's "bike helmet" stadium design, which had been projected to cost 150 billion yen ($2.02 billion).

Abe said the scrapping of the design meant the stadium would not be ready in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, but said he was "certain" that the project would be ready in time for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

A spokesman for Zaha Hadid Architects blamed increases in construction costs in Tokyo and the difficult of working to a fixed deadline for the stadium's spiralling price tag.

Japanese architects had been scathing of the design, with leading architect Arata Isozaki writing an open letter to the government body in charge of the games that the sight left him "in despair" and warning the stadium would be a "disgrace to future generations."