The news comes on the heels of the 2014 vote from the International Olympic Committee that ended a 28-sport cap at the Summer Games.
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The new additions are the first made under the IOC’s Agenda 2020, a set of recommendations meant to keep the Games more affordable and sustainable for their host cities, as USA Today reports.
In this Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016 photo, former major leaguer Warren Cromartie speaks during an interview in Tokyo.
Baseball, skateboarding, surfing, karate, and climbing will feature in 2020 in an effort to increase local support for the Games.
Baseball and softball, both highly popular in Japan, will return to the Games after a 12-year absence. Baseball and softball were eliminated from the Olympic lineup after 2008 in Beijing.
The decision was taken by a show of hands at the 129th International Olympic Committee session which was held at the sidelines of the Rio Olympics.
And veteran IOC man Dick Pound said he was “very disappointed” that squash had not been considered as it “meets everything we’d like in an Olympic sport”.
The IOC voted for adding the surfing to the sporting menu of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympiad.
Baseball and softball each will have a six-team tournament.
Following suit, the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee submitted its proposal for the inclusion of these sports, in September previous year.
Surfing will add something new to the Olympics program because of the cool and playful lifestyle it brings along with it, according to Fernando Aguerre, the president of the International Surfing Association.
While the pro leagues in Japan and some other countries have agreed to suspend their seasons to allow their players to go to the Olympics, MLB has not.
Baseball/softball chief Ricardo Fraccari said: “We are very proud to be elected again”.
“If not, the competition of baseball will not fulfil completely and perhaps if we accept baseball for 2020 it will be hard for baseball to be included in the future”.
Mr Bach said the additions are all about keeping young people interested in the Games. “Our goal is appear permamently and to have the best players as possible”.
The three main disciplines in sports climbing are lead, where athletes climb rope-tied one at a time and the one who gets the highest wins; boulder, which is a power and technique discipline with a maximum of 10 movements; and speed, in which climbers, rope-tied from above, run on parallel walls and the fastest wins. “This is a huge moment for professional surfing and further highlights surfing’s rise as a global participatory and spectator sport. With its unique and modern blend of sport performance, style and youth culture, surfing will help deliver something special to the games”. He said that skateboarding and climbing in temporary urban venues could see another innovation in which the Olympic venues will be open for the public immediately after the competition and on non-competition days.
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Organizers say they hope skateboarding will catch on with worldwide viewers as halfpipe in snowboarding did in the Winter Olympics.
