Russian Olympic Committee to ask IOC not to exclude wrestling from 2020 Olympic program - Zhukov
MOSCOW. Feb 13 (Interfax) - The decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to exclude wrestling from the program of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games is surprising, Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov said.
"The IOC made a surprising decision, because it is hard to imagine Olympic Games without wrestling," Zhukov told a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday.
"We will take every measure to persuade the IOC not to exclude wrestling from the Olympic program. I, on behalf of the Russian Olympic Committee, will ask the IOC to keep wrestling on the games program," he said.
An official letter will be sent to the IOC soon, he added.
The IOC Executive Board earlier issued a recommendation that wrestling be excluded on the list of core sports for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Wrestling will now join the seven shortlisted sports - baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sports climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu - vying for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic program as an additional sport.
The list of core sports will include athletics, rowing, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, gymnastics, weightlifting, handball, hockey, judo, swimming, modern pentathlon, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, shooting, archery, triathlon, sailing and volleyball.
The final decision on an additional sport will be made at the 125th IOC session due to take place in Argentina's Buenos Aires on September 7-10, 2013.
Russia is traditionally strong in wrestling. Russian wrestlers won a number of gold medals at the London Olympic Games in 2012.