One of the world's most popular sports is "one step closer" to being restored to the Olympic programme after the IOC made a significant decision regarding its future.
In total, two sports from the 2024 Paris Games are being scrapped from the next Olympics, with six new sports being added to the calendar.
Breaking, which is known by many as breakdancing, will not appear at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles alongside boxing – a sport that has featured in almost every summer Olympics to date.
But for 2028, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has previously said boxing has no chance of making an appearance unless it cleans up its act.
Advert
It comes after the IOC stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of running the competition at the 2024 Games over issues regarding funding and governance, with reforms not taken up by the association which is heavily backed by Russia.
The two came to blows during the Paris Games over the gender eligibility of two female boxers competing in the women's competition.
A final decision will be taken in 2025 but this week, things appeared to take a positive turn, with World Boxing being granted provisional recognition as the sport's international governing federation by the IOC.
As per the Olympics website, the IOC's assessment concluded that World Boxing has continued to make progress regarding the identified areas of consideration in order to be recommended for IOC Provisional Recognition.
Boris van der Vorst, who is the president of World Boxing, is hopeful that boxing will be included in the 2028 Games.
"Keeping its place at the Olympic Games is absolutely critical to the future of our sport at every level, from the grassroots to the highest echelons of professional boxing, and this decision by the IOC takes us one step closer to our objective of seeing boxing restored to the Olympic programme," he said.
"[It] is an important milestone, however, everyone connected with World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic movement is a privilege and a responsibility and not a right."
Van der Vors added: "There is still a lot of work to do, and everyone is as committed as ever to continuing to work together and doing everything within our power to deliver a better future for our sport and ensuring that boxing remains at heart of the Olympic movement."
Among the six sports that will make their debut in 2028 is flag football, a variant of American football where athletes have flags attached to a belt. Squash will also make its debut after years of campaigning, as well as baseball, softball, lacrosse and cricket.
Jack Kenmare