Wrestling claims back Olympic Games spot

Japan's three-time Olympics wrestling gold medallists Saori Yoshida (front C) and Kaori Icho (front R) and London 2012 Olympic Games gold medal wrestler Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu (2nd L) celebrate after wrestling wins back its Olympic spot for the 2020 Tokyo Games, at the National Training Center in Tokyo, in this photo taken by Kyodo September 9, 2013. Wrestling completed an unprecedented comeback on Sunday, reclaiming its spot in the 2020 Olympic Games after beating bids from rivals squash and baseball/softball in an International Olympic Committee vote. [Photo/Agencies]

Bitter Defeat

Baseball and softball, Olympic sports until the 2008 Beijing Games, hoped for a return to the Olympic fold.

"In my country Cuba, it is the top sport and the cement of a social tradition," baseball/softball delegation member Antonio Castro, son of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, had earlier told the IOC in a presentation.

Squash, the only one of the three never to have featured in the Olympics, was making its third consecutive bid after failures in 2005 and 2009.

"It is disappointing but what we've done over the last few years, with the campaign... has brought the whole squash community together in a huge way," said world number one Nicol David, who was part of the campaign to get the sport into the Olympics.

"We've proven that we can be up there as an Olympic sport and the fact that we were shortlisted shows what a great sport we are. We need to use that and move forward."