IOC to decide whether to add mixed doubles table tennis to Tokyo Olympics: Bach

President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach walks past Yoshiro Mori (L), head of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizing committee as he delivers his keynote address at World Forum on Sport and Culture in Tokyo, Japan, October 20, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

DUSSELDORF, Germany - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide next week whether to make mixed doubles table tennis event an medal event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, IOC president Thomas Bach said here on Thursday.

Bach made these remarks during a visit to the World Table Tennis Championships. He watched the mixed doubles third round matches and met Tomas Weikert, the recently elected ITTF President and his fellow German Thomas Weikert.

"I enjoyed the mixed doubles matches," Bach said. "Personally I think that mixed events can contribute to the development of the sport, particularly for women. However, with the program for Tokyo you have to wait eight more days; then the IOC Executive Board will have the meeting and come out with the decision."

The IOC Executive Board meeting will be held in Lausanne on June 9.

Weikert, who became the ITTF president from 2014, was optimistic that his sport will have a fifth event at the Olympic Games in three years.

"Our next step is to have a fifth event at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. Mr. Bach told us that we are already very strong. The data from Rio works in our favour, speaking about social media and TV. He said in Tokyo we would be even stronger. We hope we will have mixed doubles in Japan."