Havana, October 17 (JIT) -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Monday that it accepted the proposal of the organization of Los Angeles 2028 for the addition to its Olympic program of baseball/softball, absent for the Paris 2024 event.

As agreed by the organization's Session in the Indian city of Mumbai, this will be one of the disciplines returning to the calendar, along with cricket (in its 'Twenty20' version) and lacrosse (in its 'Sixes' modality).

In addition, flag-football (a non-contact sport derived from American soccer) and squash have been accepted and will make their debut in the French capital.

In the case of baseball and softball, they will return to be Olympic sports after being in Tokyo 2020 (they missed London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 after debuting in Barcelona 1992).

For its part, cricket had not been there since Paris 1900, and lacrosse since London 1908.

The choice of these five new sports is in line with American sports culture and will showcase iconic sports to the world, while bringing international sports to the United States, IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement.

These disciplines are accepted only for the 2028 edition and are not guaranteed to continue in future editions.

The international baseball/softball federation has 191 national federations, cricket 108, American soccer 74, lacrosse 90 and squash 82. In addition, the IOC Session endorsed the Executive Board's recommendation to include modern pentathlon in the 2028 sports program, with the replacement of equestrian with steeplechase.

The IOC also accepted weightlifting on the Los Angeles program, following that International Federation's decision to delegate its anti-doping management to the International Testing Agency and its sanctioning to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, at least until the end of 2028.

However, the situation of boxing remains 'in suspense', since the planetary entity withdrew its recognition to the International Boxing Association (IBA).