Rio de Janeiro: The head of world baseball promised to bring the stars of the US Major League to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after sharp questions about the sport’s return to the Games programme.
Baseball’s inclusion was the highlight of a package of five sports chosen for the Tokyo Olympics, including youth-friendly surfing, skateboarding and climbing, as well as Japanese favourite karate.
Olympic chiefs have been burned by their experience with golf, whose leading players including the men’s top four, have opted out of the Rio Games despite the sport’s return after a gap of 112 years.
Major League Baseball has not promised to make room in its schedule for the Tokyo Games but Riccardo Fraccari, president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, said “positive” talks were continuing.
“Be sure we will present the best athletes in Tokyo because our goal is not to appear one time but to be a permanent player,” Fraccari told journalists on Wednesday.
“The goal is to have the best players in the Games.”
Baseball’s Olympic future could be at stake, as the Tokyo package wins inclusion for one Games only and does not assure an invite for future editions.
Franco Carraro, who heads the IOC commission for the Olympic programme, said the Games body was wary after golf, when several players cited concerns over the mosquito-borne Zika virus as they withdrew.
“I think the excuse they took, not to come because of Zika, is ridiculous,” he fumed, warning that baseball risked not being invited back if MLB’s stars don’t play in Tokyo.
“We hope that the international federation reach an agreement with the United States professional league, as happened with basketball and ice hockey,” Carraro said.
“If not, the competition of baseball will not fulfil completely and perhaps... it will be difficult for baseball to be included in the future.”
The five extra sports — with women-only softball bracketed with baseball — bring an additional 18 events and 474 athletes to the Tokyo roster, and give it a strong experimental flavour.
The International Olympic Committee voted unanimously for the new package, which applies only to the Tokyo Games, where 33 sports will now be contested.
Wednesday’s vote ends a more than a year-long process, which whittled down 26 applications and dropped squash, bowling and wushu — a Chinese martial art — from an eight-sport shortlist in September.
Baseball is a natural choice for Japan, where it is the No. 1 sport and has produced stars like Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. Its inclusion is estimated to reap an extra $50 million (Dh183.9 million) in ticket sales.
Surfing chiefs highlighted the sport’s “sex appeal” during their campaign. Initial plans to compete on an artificial wave have been dropped in favour of holding the event on the coast south of Tokyo.
Climbing flagged up its rugged, windswept image, the roller sports federation promised NBA-style razzmatazz, and karate gathered 720,000 signatures from around the world backing its Olympic bid.
The IOC scrapped a short-lived cap of 28 Olympic sports to include the new events. In Rio, golf and rugby return to the Olympic programme after a gap of 112 years and 92 years respectively.