Softball to go it alone in Olympic quest 28/05/2010 |
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International Softball Federation (ISF) president Don Porter has said the sport will try to win back its Olympic place on its own without joining forces with baseball.
Riccardo Fraccari, president of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), this week reopened the possibility of a joint approach between the two sports in an attempt to win a place on the 2020 Olympic programme.
But Porter told the Press Association’s Sport Briefing that while the ISF is not rejecting a combined bid out of hand, for the time being softball will work alone in its Olympic efforts.
“I have talked with Riccardo Fraccari on several occasions within the last few weeks,” he said. “The last time I spoke with him was in Dubai, during the SportAccord conference. I understand what he feels, that it would help the bid process of trying to get a spot back into the Olympic programme. But we think we want to continue, at this point at least, our efforts independently of any other sport.
“It’s a possibility [that we could work together]. We don’t want just to say absolutely no. But at the current time, we are going to prepare ourselves for 2013 [when the International Olympic Committee’s executive board makes its decision] and if something develops where it might be advantageous to our sport, we’ll certainly consider it.”
Last year, the IOC selected golf and rugby sevens for inclusion in the 2016 Rio Games, rejecting bids from baseball and softball, along with karate, roller sports and squash.
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