Climbing "looks set to be confirmed as an Olympic sport for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020." Climbing "is a timed event which involves competitors climbing walls with fixed anchors." Tokyo Olympics organizers "were able to nominate a series of sports to the IOC with the hope that bringing in sports popular in the hosting country will help lift ratings." They "opted for skateboarding, surfing, karate and baseball/softball to go with climbing." The IOC has "been reviewing the five sports and will reveal which ones get the tick of approval for 2020 next month" (STUFF, 7/17).
The Int'l Cricket Council fears that high-profile withdrawals of male golfers from next month's Rio Games "might damage cricket's chances of becoming an Olympic sport." Golf's return to the Olympics for the first time since 1904 "has been hit by big-name male withdrawals over health concerns triggered by the outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil." ICC CEO Dave Richardson said, "The IOC made it clear from the start that if we want to persuade them, they want the top teams and the top athletes. I think this experience with golf might have made it even harder for us to get in, because we will have to convince them our top teams and players will be there" (REUTERS, 7/15).
Rafael Nadal "has been given the green light" by the Int'l Tennis Federation "to compete at next month's Rio Olympics despite not fulfilling the qualification criteria." The 2008 Beijing Gold Medalist's participation "had been in doubt as injury had prevented him from appearing in the minimum number of Davis Cup ties required in a four-year Olympic cycle to qualify for the Games." The Spaniard "won his appeal to compete in the Aug. 5-21 Games and was named in the final list of participants issued by the ITF on Friday" (REUTERS, 7/15).
