Baseball, surfing among five sports in for 2020
Last Updated: 03/08/16 9:58pm
Baseball won a return to the Olympics as youth-friendly surfing, skateboarding, climbing and karate also got the nod in a package of five sports approved for Tokyo 2020 on Wednesday.
The International Olympic Committee voted unanimously for the proposal which applies only to the Tokyo Games, where 33 sports will now be contested.
"This is really a milestone in the innovation of the Olympic programme which we can then experience in four years from now in Tokyo 2020," IOC president Thomas Bach told delegates in Rio de Janeiro.
The five extra sports - also including women-only softball - add 18 events and 474 athletes to the Tokyo roster and give it a strong experimental flavour.
IOC members voted 85-0 in favour but not before some concerns about baseball, whose US-based stars are not confirmed for the Games.
