Wrestling likely to grab last Olympic-sport spot for Tokyo 2020

People in Tokyo react to 2020 Olympic host announcement

After Tokyo won the bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, it is now being speculated that Wrestling is in pole position to be reinstated as an Olympic sport partly because it is Japan’s traditional sport in which they have done well in the past, and also due to the sport’s traditional link with the Olympics.

Wrestling will now compete alongside baseball/softball and squash to fill the only remaining slot in the 2020 Summer Olympics calendar. The decision from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the final sport slot is expected on Sunday.

Ed Hula, founder of the Around the Rings website, confirmed that wrestling was the favourite to grab the last Olympic-sport spot because of their long-standing partnership with the event. Hula told BBC Sport that wrestling has the edge over baseball and squash because they could “play the history card”. He said that the traditional IOC members were likely to vote for the sport because of this reason.

Baseball, the other sport with potential to fill the spot,is hugely popular and has a major fan-following in Japan and could come very close to feature in the Games, but they’d have to overcome a stumbling block in trying to convince Major League Baseball to release the best players to compete in Tokyo.

Squash, the other sport in the fray, is reported to be nudged aside, thereby pitting wrestling with baseball in today’s vote.