Surfing and baseball could both be included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after organisers Monday announced their final list of new sports to the world governing body.
The Tokyo Olympic organisers will propose five sport categories – a baseball/softball joint bid, karate, skateboarding, climbing and surfing -- to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which will formally announce new entries for the 2020 Games ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The Tokyo organisers narrowed down their previous list by dropping bowling, squash and wushu, a type of martial art.
Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the committee for selecting new sports, said it picked the five sports as they are popular among younger generations and have wide support in Japan.
Under the Olympic reforms approved last December, the IOC has abolished the cap of 28 sports for the summer games while maintaining a limit of 10,500 athletes and 310 medal events. Host cities can propose additional events.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams welcomed the Tokyo proposals, as part of the Agenda 2020 reforms.
He said: “This is another concrete step forward in the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020, showing a new, fresh and very exciting approach to the Olympic Programme.
“The proposal by Tokyo 2020 reflects the innovative approach of Olympic Agenda 2020, with a particular appeal to youth.”
In baseball-mad Japan, the sport – dropped from the Olympics along with softball after the 2008 Beijing Games – would be a money-spinner for Tokyo organisers, worth an estimated extra $50 million in ticket sales.
In their presentation to Tokyo officials, surfing officials highlighted the sport's “sex appeal” to win over organisers, with the option of implementing cutting-edge artificial wave technology.
Climbing flagged up its rugged, windswept image, while the roller sports federation promised NBA-style razzmatazz.
Karate officials gathered some 720,000 signatures from across the world to be listed, creating promotion videos showing demonstrations by top players.
Local media reported on Monday Tokyo organisers plan to hold some first round baseball/softball games in Fukushima to support its recovery from the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Fukushima has two baseball stadiums with a capacity of 30,000 each, and “decontamination work was finished in both the stadiums,” a government source told the Sankei Shimbun daily.
The tsunami, triggered by a 9.0-magnitude offshore earthquake on March 11, 2011, swamped the emergency power supplies at the Fukushima nuclear plant, sending its reactors into meltdown as cooling systems failed.
Many of the tens of thousands of people who evacuated their homes and farms are unlikely to return owing to radiation dangers.
The two stadiums are both located in Fukushima prefecture but tens of kilometres (miles) away from the “difficult-to-return zone” designated by the government. – AFP