By Tom Degun
insidethegames.biz
The sports bidding for a spot on the programme at the 2020 Olympic Games will all face a key inspection before the end of the year at an Evaluation Event that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will attend for each discipline.
Baseball and softball are negotiating to put in a joint bid for 2020, while climbing, karate, roller sports, squash, wakeboard and wushu are also hoping for inclusion.
The IOC will attend a major championship for each of the seven sports to compile a report on the merits of each sport and its bid. The IOC will then make a final decision on which sport, if any, to include in 2020 when it meets in Buenos Aires in September 2013.
Softball and baseball
Softball has already had its evaluation after IOC delegates visited the 2012 Women's World Championships in Whitehorse, Canada, which took place from July 13-22, and saw Japan defeat the United States in the final.
The evaluation came before softball and baseball officially announced that they were putting forward a joint bid for the 2020 Olympics, since the International Softball Federation still has to officially ratify the decision at a Special Congress planned for this autumn.
Baseball will face its IOC evaluation at the Continental qualifying tournament for the 2013 World Baseball Classic in Regensburg, Germany, which will take place from September 20-24.
Great Britain will have been involved in both the softball and baseball evaluations, since the GB Women's Fastpitch Team competed in the World Championships in Whitehorse and the GB Baseball Team will be involved in the World Baseball Classic qualifier in Regensburg.
Other sports
Roller sports will come under the spotlight at the 2012 World Speed Skating Championships in Ascoli Piceno, Italy on September 7-15, while climbing will be evaluated at the XII IFSC World Championships in Paris, France on September 12-16.
Wushu will also be visited in September, at the Fifth World Junior Wushu Championships in Macau, China on September 17-25.
Meanwhile, wakeboard will be evaluated at the Cable Wakeboard World Championships in Manila, Philippines from November 8-11 and squash will be visited at the Hong Kong Squash Open in Hong Kong, China from November 21-December 2.
The only sport that is yet to have a confirmed IOC inspection event is karate but it is likely that the IOC will select the World Senior Championships in Paris on November 21-25, as the event is the sport's showpiece competition.
Future changes
A maximum of 28 sports are allowed at the Olympic Games and this will be reached at Rio 2016 with the inclusion of golf and rugby sevens.
However, it is highly likely that one of the seven applicant sports will be included in the 2020 Olympic sports programme, since the IOC looks set to remove at least one discipline currently on the programme.
Before London 2012, modern pentathlon and taekwondo were thought to be the sports facing the biggest risk of being axed from the Olympic programme, but taekwondo, in particular, enjoyed an excellent Games which enhanced its reputation.