Three months after being dropped from the 2020 Olympics, wrestling won a reprieve Wednesday and made the IOC short list for inclusion in the games, according to ESPN. Also making the cut were squash and a combined baseball-softball bid.
Eight sports were vying for a single opening in the lineup. Five sports were eliminated from contention - karate, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and the Chinese martial art of wushu.
The IOC executive board will submit wrestling, squash and baseball-softball to the full IOC assembly for a final decision on Sept. 8 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"It's a good mix of team sports and individual," IOC vice president Thomas Bach said.
The decision came after sports federations representing each potential sports made closed-door presentations to the IOC executive board. The board voted by secret ballot over several rounds, with wrestling winning on the first round with eight of the 14 votes.
Baseball-softball beat karate 9-5 in a head-to-vote to win its spot on the list. Squash made it through the final round with eight votes to defeat wushu with four and sport climbing with two.
Men's baseball and women's softball, which have been out of the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Games, merged into a single federation in hopes to improve their chances of being allowed back in.
"We are humbled and honored," said Riccardo Fraccari, co-president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation. "The decision motivates us to work even harder on behalf of the athletes."
Squash is attempting to gain an Olympic spot for a third time.
Wresting, which has been a part of the Olympic games since the ancient Olympics, was surprisingly cut from the list of core sports by the IOC board in February. The decision caused an international outcry and prompted the United States, Russia, Iran and other countries to join forces in a bid to bring the sport back.
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