
A vote will be taken, and passed on the inclusion of all the sports selected, which will definitely include golf and rugby sevens, to be part of the Olympic Games of 2020.
The one sport left out will have an opportunity to join the competitive pitch process for inclusion. There are seven sports already in this category. They are Squash, Softball, Karate, Wakeboarding, Speed Climbing, Roller Sport, and Wushu, better known here as Kung Fu. That decision will be made in the autumn at the same time as the selction of the venue for the 2020 games.
Karate is considered to be the favourite among those up for addition to the roster and this poses a real threat to Taekwondo among the sports deemed to be at risk that were part of competition at London 2012.
The other thought to be in the firing line, which is presently of greater danger to Irish athletes is Modern Pentathlon.
This has tradition on its side having been created by the founder of the Modern Olympics Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and has been part of the roster since 1912. George Patton competed in the event in those games before going on to fame in his military career.
Natalya Coyle competed for Ireland at the last Olympics, coming in ninth and herself, Arthur Lanigan O’Keefe and Eanna Bailey are already preparing to qualify for Rio 2016.
The sport in Ireland has a high performance unit based at UCD and Morton Stadium and is very much on the agenda for sporting facilities at the National Sports Campus. Axing from the Olympic Games may place that development under threat.
A snap poll conducted yesterday by the BBC showed football and tennis to be the two most people would remove from the games, but with criteria including television coverage, mass reach, youth appeal, ticket sales and overall participation, neither is thought to be in any danger.
We will have news on the decision in Lausanne on Wednesday morning and throughout Tuesday on the @Sportforbusines twitter account
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Pentathlon under threat of IOC Axe












