Even though the Rio 2016 Olympic Games are only a year away, Tokyo is already preparing to host the 2020 festivities. It will surely be an incredible event and even though the usual sports - such as soccer, basketball and track field - are surely going to be there, there are plenty more sports that are appling to take part in the 2020 ceremonies.
Among the most known ones in America we have softball and baseball. Both sports are fairly similar and in fact they were considered Olympic sports until 2008 but they're applying to return. Baseball would be a very interesting case - with the games usually being held between August and September, it would mean that they would clash when teams are likely to be in the thick of playoff races so in case it's accepted, one has to wonder which players would actually attend to the event.
American Football has also applied as they are looking to get accepted for the first time. With an increase of popularity all over the world - as the game is played in Europe, South America and parts of Asia aside from USA and Canada - there a chance it could get into it , although it might collide with the NFL Calendar so it would certainly generate some interesting discussion.
Other sports that have applied include squash, roller sports and karate. The organization commitee revealed they have a criteria to select the sports that will be included on the Games.
"We have three criteria in deciding which sports will be chosen," said Toshiro Muto, chief executive officer of the Tokyo organizing committee. "They must be popular with young people, give momentum to Tokyo 2020 and meet IOC standards."
The shortlist of candidates will be announced on June 22nd and the finalists will have a presentation to the committee during August this year. A final decision will be made in August 2016 when the commitee meets ahead of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The full list of sports goes as follows: 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, waterski and wakeboard, and wushu.