Chess and tug of war apply to be included in 2020 Olympic Games

Chess and tug of war are among 26 sports to apply for inclusion in the Tokyo Games. Bridge, air sports, floorball, flying disc, sumo, polo, orienteering, korfball, dance sport, racquetball, roller sports, wakeboard and wushu have also put in a formal request to be part of the programme. Floorball is a type of floor hockey featuring six players, while wushu is derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. More mainstream sports to apply include American football, karate, squash, netball and bowls.



Tug of war was part of the Olympic programme between 1908 and 1920 with Great Britain winning five medals, including two golds. The combined bid from baseball and softball, dropped after the 2008 Beijing Games, is considered a favourite because of the popularity of those sports in Japan. A shortlist will be announced on 22 June with finalists making a presentation in Tokyo in August, before organisers make recommendations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by 30 September.

The IOC will make a final decision in August 2016, when it meets ahead of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Toshiro Muto, chief executive officer of the Tokyo organising committee, said that sports "must be popular with young people, give momentum to Tokyo 2020 and meet IOC standards" to be considered for inclusion. Under the IOC's 'Olympic Agenda 2020' reforms, host cities can propose the addition of one or more sports for their Games.



The 28-sport cap for future summer Olympics has been dropped but they will be restricted to 10,500 athletes and 310 events. The full list of 26 sports to apply is: Air Sports, American football, baseball-softball, bowls, bowling, bridge, chess, dance sport, floorball, flying disc, karate, korfball, netball, orienteering, polo, racquetball, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, sumo, surfing, tug of war, underwater sports, waterski and wakeboard and wushu.

There's a short clip of tug of war featuring at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics here.