Report: IOC to drop one Summer Olympic sport

Badminton could be on its way out as an Olympic sport. (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

The International Olympic Committee will drop one sport from the 2020 Summer Olympics tomorrow, reports the Los Angeles Times. 

The IOC is prepping for the Sochi Olympics starting next February and the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The IOC will decide the host city for the 2020 Summer games in September with Istanbul, Turkey, Tokyo, Japan, and Madrid, Spain vying for the honors.

Among the sports reportedly on the chopping block are taekwondo, wrestling, badminton and table tennis and modern pentathlon. Modern pentathlon combines fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting and has been a part of the Olympics since 1912. Taekwondo has been in the Olympics since 2000, wrestling since 1896, badminton since 1992 and table tennis since 1988.

The report analyzes more than three dozen criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity.

The last sports removed from the Olympics were baseball and softball, voted out by the IOC in 2005 and off the program since the 2008 Beijing Games.Joining the Olympics at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro will be golf and rugby.