Posted: 11 July 2005 at 9:00am | IP Logged

Karate and squash were briefly chosen to replace baseball and softball before being rejected, meaning the earliest they can now compete is 2016.

"For our athletes, it's an insult to talk about 11 years from now. The whole career of the karate athlete is eight to 10 years, I can't tell my athletes to keep going until 2016 due to five minutes of what happened here."

He added: "I can tell you it's very, very bad, so disappointing - how can I explain what happened to my members?"

Squash legend Jahangir Khan said: "As a player, one never gives up. We'll try again for 2016. We'll get in one day," he said. "Obviously, I'd have liked to see my game there. But we'll never give up."

The claims of rugby sevens, golf and roller skating to be included were also rejected.

Many of the administrators involved with these sports, together with baseball and softball chiefs, were left surprised and disappointed by the decision.

Don Porter, the American president of the international softball federation, said he was devastated by the vote.

"We thought that we had a lot of support," he said. "The members told us we were getting support, but obviously we weren't.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/4 664733.stm