RIO DE JANEIRO -- Baseball and softball are returning to the Olympics in 2020, while skateboarding, surfing, karate and sport climbing are joining the games for the first time.The IOC approved the addition of the sports Wednesday for the Tokyo Games, calling it an innovative mix of traditional and youth-oriented events that will attract Japanese and global fans.The five, including a combined baseball-softball bid, were put forward for inclusion last year by Tokyo organizers. Under new IOC rules, host cities can propose additional sports for their own games.IOC members voted unanimously to accept the five sports as a package. The approval was for the Tokyo Games only.The new sports will add 18 events and 474 athletes to the program. The Tokyo Games will now feature 33 sports and about 11,000 athletes, compared to the usual number of 28 sports and 10,500 athletes.While mens baseball and womens softball -- both highly popular in Japan -- will be returning after a 12-year absence, the other sports will be making their Olympic debuts.The IOC called it the most comprehensive evolution of the Olympic program in modern history.Taken together, the five sports are an innovative combination of established and emerging, youth-focused events that are popular in Japan and will add to the legacy of the Tokyo Games, IOC President Thomas Bach said.Baseball and softball have been off the Olympic program since the 2008 Beijing Games. The two were rejected in separate bids to return for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, so they combined forces to put forward a single bid for inclusion in Tokyo.Mens baseball was a full part of the Olympic program from 1992 to 2008, with womens softball joining in 1996. The IOC voted them both out in 2005.Baseball will have a six-team tournament, short of the eight-team format sought by officials from the sports international federation. Womens softball will also have six teams. The games will be played at a shared venue In Yokohama.Todays historic decision by the IOC is a `home run for the Olympics, our sport and the Tokyo 2020 Games, said Riccardo Fraccari, president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation.Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred also welcomed the IOC vote.Baseball and softball are global sports that belong in the Olympics, he said, adding that their approval will allow fans throughout the world to again enjoy baseball and softball on the Olympic stage.Craig Cress, executive director of USA Softball, said many young players had suffered after the sport was removed from the games.Their hearts were broken that they werent allowed to participate for their country at the Olympics in the sport that they had a passion for, he said. Now, thats back. In 2020, its our job as ambassadors of the sport to put on a great show in Tokyo.Before the vote, several IOC members questioned whether baseball would have the worlds top players at the games. While pro leagues in Japan and some other countries have agreed to shut down their seasons to send their players to the Olympics, MLB has declined to do so.Franco Carraro, who chairs the IOCs program commission, said he hopes the international federation can still reach an agreement with MLB, in line with the deals with the NBA and NHL that brought pro basketball and ice hockey players into the Olympics.If not, Carraro said, said it will be difficult for baseball to be included in the future beyond the Tokyo Games.Fraccari said talks with MLB are very open and going in a very good way.Our goal is not to appear one time but to be permanently in the program, he said. The goal is to have the best players possible.Skateboarding will have street and park events, and feature 80 athletes -- 40 men and 40 women. In climbing, 40 competitors will take part in the disciplines of speed, bouldering and lead (also known as sport). Karate will have 80 athletes competing in mens and womens Kumite and Kata events, while surfing will have two shortboard events for 40 competitors.The surfing competition will be held on natural waves at a beach location in Chiba prefecture.Our Olympic dream has now become a reality, International Surfing Association president Fernando Aguerre said. This is a game-changing moment for surfing.Skateboarding and sports climbing events will be held in temporary venues in urban settings in Tokyo, while karate will be contested at the Nippon Budokan in the capital.Ive always believed that if skateboarding was properly protected and supported, its appearance on the Olympic stage could change the world, International Skateboarding Federation president Gary Ream said.Skateboardings approval came despite tensions between rival federations.For the Olympics, a special Tokyo 2020 skateboarding commission was formed to run the sport. It is a collaboration between the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) and the ISF.A lawsuit was filed last week in California by the World Skateboarding Federation (WSF). It alleged the ISF abruptly canceled scheduled drug testing at an event last year because of fears that several riders would test positive.The lawsuit also alleged that Ream struck up a friendly relationship with Christophe Dubi, the IOC Olympic Games executive director, and provided Dubis son with free training at a skateboarding camp he owned.Dominique Wilkins Jersey Large . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. Hawks Jerseys China . -- In one brief spurt, Brazil turned a close game into a rout and proved again it will be a strong World Cup favourite. http://www.customhawksjersey.com/ . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. Custom Hawks T-shirts . 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Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization.VATICAN CITY -- One in four IOC members are women, but only three are on the 14-member IOC executive board.Two out of 211 soccer federation presidents are female, and women are allotted only six quota seats on the 37-member FIFA council.A mere one of 17 are on UEFAs executive committee.When female sports pioneer Val Ackerman looks at the numbers of women in leadership roles in world sports organizations, she cringes.Having been in the business now nearly three decades, I can see some movement, but its slow, said the founding president of the Womens National Basketball Association and current commissioner of the Big East collegiate athletics conference.To me anything less than 30 is not good, and 50-50 is the ideal. So the hope is that over the next 15 years we can get closer to equality, Ackerman said at this weeks first global conference on faith and sport at the Vatican, called Sport at the Service of Humanity. Thats the endgame and how we get there requires the input of many and thats part of what this conference is about, figuring out action steps.The paradox, of course, is that the Catholic Church in general -- and the Vatican in particular -- have few if any women in leadership positions. Pope Francis has strongly upheld the ban on womens ordination but has said women should be more involved in church decision-making, including heading a Vatican office.Still, Francis named an archbishop to head the new Vatican secretariat for family and laity -- a job that some thought should have gone to a woman.As of 2014, only 18 percent of Holy See employees were women -- most in low-ranking positions.By contrast, womens sports have exploded at the high school and collegiate levels in the United States since Title IX was introduced in 1972. The federal statute bans discrimination at schools that receive federal funding.At the recently concluded Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the U.S. team included more female than male athletes -- 294-264 -- for only the second time in history. Meanwhile, about 45 percent of all athletes in Rio were female.The force of federal law doesnt exist in other places and without that Im sure we wouldnt be as far along in the U.S. as we are, Ackerman told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference, which concluded Friday.Nine of the 10 schools in the Big East -- such as defending NCAA mens basketball champion Villanova, Georgetown, St. Johns and Seton Hall -- are Catholic institutions.So for them the fact that Im here is important, Ackerman said. Our hope is that we can carry forward some of the principles (discussed) here within the conference.The Vatican conference has provided Ackerman with an audience full of world sports leaders to listen to her message -- from IOC president Thomas Bach to Arsenal soccer club CEO Ivan Gazidis to New York Giants co-owner John Mara.Mel Young, the co-founder of the Homeless World Cup; Loretta Claiborne of the Special Olympics and IInternational Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven were also in attendance.ddddddddddddThe inspiration came from Pope Francis, explained Monsignor Melchor Sanchez De Toca Y Alameda of the Pontifical Council for Culture. While hes not an athlete himself, he understands perfectly that sports provide a venue for people to grow up in -- a world in which diverse people find a common element to understand each other and do something together. It has an enormous educational potential.Kirsty Coventry, the recently retired swimmer from Zimbabwe and the most decorated African Olympian with seven medals, is working to promote women in her continent.We are one of those regions where girls and women are not encouraged to take leadership roles or play sport, said Coventry, who is a member of the IOCs athletes commission.So one of my biggest goals is to figure out how we can talk to people and tell good stories of amazing women who have broken through and achieved those things and broken through those glass ceilings, Coventry added. How do we figure out how to best get that message across?A variety of religions were represented at the conference, including Judaism and Islam.At the elite football level, if youre excluding any group of people you cant be elite because you will give an advantage to your competitors, said Gazidis, the Arsenal CEO. So its actually a marvelous test tube where you have to challenge your own prejudices and make sure that you break them down. It becomes setting an example out of the values of the club. But its also a competitive imperative.Gazidis described it as an incredibly powerful moment when Muslim players Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi pray before each Arsenal match.These are people, human beings that our fans know. They know their characters, they know their skills and abilities and they know them as people, Gazidis said. So seeing them in prayer like that breaks down the mythologies and the ignorance about Islam and says, `There are good people here. These are people just like us.Its a very powerful and very visible tool for breaking down prejudice, Gazidis added. Football, while it has its own problems and we need to continue to work on them, its overall influence has been good in terms of unifying people and making us understand that we can all work together toward a common goal.For the Vatican, the goals are just beginning.Im pleased by this participation but Ill be even happier if at the end of this conference a movement begins, Monsignor Sanchez said. Thats the aim of the conference. Im hoping this is only the first of many meetings, perhaps in other places, too, like Africa.---Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome and AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf ' ' '