TOKYO (AP) — Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh is going to bat for baseball and softball’s bid to get back in the Olympics.
Baseball gained full medal status at the 1992 Barcelona Games and softball followed four years later in Atlanta. But both were dropped from the 2012 program in a 2005 vote by the IOC.
The two sports have merged into a single confederation as they compete against wrestling and squash for a single spot on the 2020 Olympic program.
The IOC will decide which sport gets back in next Sunday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a day after choosing the host for the 2020 Olympics. Tokyo is bidding against Madrid and Istanbul.
Oh said that “if Tokyo wins the honor to host the Olympic Games in 2020, I believe baseball and softball competitions will deliver the peak of Olympic sport.”
