Chess and tug of war are among 26 sports to apply for inclusion in the
Tokyo Games.
Bridge, air sports, floorball, flying disc, sumo, polo, orienteering,
korfball, dance sport, racquetball, roller sports, wakeboard and wushu
have also put in a formal request to be part of the program.
Floorball is a type of floor hockey featuring six players, while wushu
is derived from traditional Chinese martial arts.
More mainstream sports to apply include American football, karate,
squash, netball and bowls.
Tug of war was part of the Olympic program between 1908 and 1920 with
Great Britain winning five medals, including two golds.
The combined bid from baseball and softball, dropped after the 2008
Beijing Games, is considered a favorite because of the popularity of
those sports in Japan.
A shortlist will be announced on 22 June with finalists making a
presentation in Tokyo in August, before organizers make recommendations
to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by 30 September.
The IOC will make a final decision in August 2016, when it meets ahead of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Toshiro Muto, chief executive officer of the Tokyo organizing committee, said that sports "must be popular with young people, give momentum to Tokyo 2020 and meet IOC standards" to be considered for inclusion. Under the IOC's 'Olympic Agenda 2020' reforms, host cities can propose the addition of one or more sports for their Games.
The 28-sport cap for future summer Olympics has been dropped but they will be restricted to 10,500 athletes and 310 events. The full list of 26 sports to apply is: Air Sports, American football, baseball-softball, bowls, bowling, bridge, chess, dance sport, floorball, flying disc, karate, korfball, netball, orienteering, polo, racquetball, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, sumo, surfing, tug of war, underwater sports, waterski and wakeboard and wushu.
There's a short clip of tug of war featuring at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics here.
The IOC will make a final decision in August 2016, when it meets ahead of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Toshiro Muto, chief executive officer of the Tokyo organizing committee, said that sports "must be popular with young people, give momentum to Tokyo 2020 and meet IOC standards" to be considered for inclusion. Under the IOC's 'Olympic Agenda 2020' reforms, host cities can propose the addition of one or more sports for their Games.
The 28-sport cap for future summer Olympics has been dropped but they will be restricted to 10,500 athletes and 310 events. The full list of 26 sports to apply is: Air Sports, American football, baseball-softball, bowls, bowling, bridge, chess, dance sport, floorball, flying disc, karate, korfball, netball, orienteering, polo, racquetball, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, sumo, surfing, tug of war, underwater sports, waterski and wakeboard and wushu.
There's a short clip of tug of war featuring at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics here.
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