By DPA
Guatemala City : The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has introduced a new flexible system to add or drop sports from future Olympics.
The IOC Session, meeting in Guatemala City, Friday agreed that instead of a two-third majority, only a simple majority is sufficient to bring in new sports or to scrap others from the Summer Olympics programme.
The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), meanwhile, ratcheted up the pressure on international sports federations that are not in line with the agency's standards, even threatening some with being barred from future Olympics.
WADA head Richard Pound said there were a "handful" of federations that had failed to comply with all points of the WADA code, though he did not take any name. Pound said any sport or national committee that was not holding to the code could count on being excluded from the Olympic programme.
For future Olympics, the IOC plans to have a core of at least 25 sports, with a maximum three additional ones allowed in for the traditional total of 28 sports. The number of athletes will also not be raised from 10,500.
The move was made after endless discussions and votes at the 2005 IOC Session before baseball and softball were dropped from the 2012 programme, which will see just 26 sports.
Baseball and softball can return at the 2016 Games if the IOC Session approves them in 2009. Other sports on the waiting list include golf, squash, karate and rugby.
The final core sport list of 25 is to be ready by 2013 – to apply at the 2020 Games. The Winter Games will remain unchanged with seven sports but disciplines can be dropped or added.
IOC president Jacques Rogge called the new system "transparent" and "flexible".
He said a core sport could only be dropped under exceptional circumstances such as doping, mismanagement, corruption or a "drastic" loss of popularity internationally.