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Decision on new sports for Tokyo Games put off until 2016

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President John Coates, left, and Yoshiro Mori, president of Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games, chat each other after their joint press conference in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. The final determination of which new sports will be added to the program for the Tokyo 2020 Games will be made in August next year. Wrapping up the second day of meetings, Coates said new sports will be approved at the IOC session in August just prior to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President John Coates, left, and Yoshiro Mori, president of Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games, chat each other after their joint press conference in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. The final determination of which new sports will be added to the program for the Tokyo 2020 Games will be made in August next year. Wrapping up the second day of meetings, Coates said new sports will be approved at the IOC session in August just prior to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President John Coates, left, and Yoshiro Mori, president of Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games, chat each other after their joint press conference in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. The final determination of which new sports will be added to the program for the Tokyo 2020 Games will be made in August next year. Wrapping up the second day of meetings, Coates said new sports will be approved at the IOC session in August just prior to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

By Associated Press 3 min read

TOKYO (AP) – The final decision on which new sports will be added to the program for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics won’t be made until August 2016 – a year later than originally planned.

Wrapping up a two-day meeting in the Japanese capital, IOC Vice President John Coates said the inclusion of new sports will be voted on at the IOC session in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the 2016 Games.

“While we were thinking originally the additional events timetable could be completed in July (2015), that is too ambitious,” Coates said. “In the interest of transparency, that is too tight a timetable.”

Baseball and softball, dropped after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are considered favorites to return in 2020 because of their popularity in Japan and the existence of first-rate facilities.

Under the IOC’s “Olympic Agenda 2020” reforms approved in December, host cities can propose the inclusion of one or more events for their games.