(ATR)According to pollsters in Japan, baseball, softball and bowling are the preferred choices for additional sports included at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The poll, conducted by Yahoo Japan, was made available to readers from June 22 to July 2.
Baseball/softball received 61,426 votes, topping the list of eight sports by a landslide.
Bowlingreceived 14,827 votes, while karate finished third in the poll with 12,269.Roller sports came in last after receiving only 1,393 votes.
Tokyo 2020 announced the IOC-recognized international federations proposing additional events for the Games in June. A total of 28 sports are already on the program.
At the start of the process, the Additional Event Program Panel sorted through 26 interested applicants. On the shortlist are baseball/softball, bowling, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, surfing and wushu.
Last month, the eight short-listed federations gave presentations to Tokyo 2020.
Key themes throughout the IFs' detailed presentations were promises to provide innovative and flexible event options that will appeal to the younger generation and leave a strong Olympic legacy. They were each followed by a question and answer session.
World Baseball Softball Confederation president Riccardo Fraccari spoke withAround the Ringsin August following the fed's presentation.
"Given our sport's position in Japan and worldwide, we are hoping to show that adding baseball/softball would be a 'home run' for Tokyo 2020 and align with IOC Agenda 2020 -- reinforcing a commitment to youth, gender equality and a sustainable business model -- maximizing the value-add without adding any associated construction costs."
On the heels of the IF's first day of meetings with Tokyo 2020 last month, World Bowling president Kevin Dornberger told ATR that the panel seems to be focused on medal opportunities for Japan.
"I think there's a few [sports] that are not really popular in Japan and you just get the flavor that if a sport comes in here and doesn't offer any meaningful medal opportunities for Japan, then I think it's going to have a tough row."
He added, "I think we have a great opportunity in Japan in particular since there are so many bowlers here; a lot of competitive bowlers here. I know our sport's popular in Japan; we've got that going for us. The Japanese people understand the sport, so maybe that's a benefit to us. I hope it is."
Tokyo 2020 will release its final additional events proposal to the IOC by Sept. 30.Final approval will come at the 129th IOC Session in Rio in August 2016.
Written byNicole Bennett
Homepage photo: Getty Images
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