Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori apologised on Thursday for sexist comments about women talking too much but said he would not resign even as his remarks sparked a storm of criticism on social media and risked tainting public opinion of the Games.

Mori, 83, apologised at a hastily called news conference, but when pressed on whether he really thought women talked too much, he said: “I don’t listen to women that much lately so I don’t know”.

The hashtag “Mori, please resign” was trending on Twitter in Japan on Thursday and users were calling on sponsors to pressure the Tokyo organising committee into dropping Mori from the top post.