The International Olympic Committee on Monday confirmed baseball-softball, both won by Japan at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, among the five sports to be added to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Cricket, lacrosse, squash and flag football -- a limited-contact version of American football -- were the four other sports ratified on the second day of the IOC session.
The IOC's Olympic program commission reviewed and put forward the LA28 Organizing Committee's proposal to the IOC's Executive Board before it was submitted to the session.
All five additional sports will feature six teams each in their respective men's and women's events.
Among the nine sports that were being considered by the 2028 local organizers, karate, motorsports and kickboxing were left out alongside breaking, also known as breakdancing, which will make its Olympic debut next summer in Paris.
Baseball and softball were both played in Tokyo but were not selected for the 2024 Games.
"I feel happy," Tokyo Olympics baseball manager Atsunori Inaba said of the sport's return to the Olympics. "I hope that baseball will become more known around the world and more countries will play baseball."
Cricket will be back in the Olympic program for the first time in 128 years and lacrosse in 120 years, while flag football and squash have never featured before.
"It will be a great chance for cricket to gain more attention and expand in Japan," said former professional baseball player Shogo Kimura, who now plays for the Tokyo-based Wyverns cricket club.
Cricket is hugely popular in South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and has an estimated 2.5 billion fans around the world.
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