( CNN ) -- Wrestling has been reinstated to the program for the 2020 Games in Tokyo after a vote Sunday by members of the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires . Wrestling won on the first round of voting by gaining 49 of the 95 votes cast . It was competing with the joint bid of baseball/softball and squash to win the final spot on the roster of sports for 2020 , as the Summer Games returns to Asia after the Beijing Games of 2008 . Baseball/softball claimed 24 votes and squash received 22 . The result means wrestling , a sport which dates back to the ancient Olympics over 3,000 years ago , is assured of taking its place in both Tokyo in 2020 and the 2024 Summer Olympics . In February , wrestling , which has appeared in all the modern Games dating back to Athens in 1896 , was cut from the 2020 program after the IOC executive board made an assessment of the performance of all 26 sports in the 2012 London Olympics . But in May , with its world governing body FILA ( International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles ) , under the new leadership of Serbian Nenad Lalovic , wrestling was given the chance to compete with baseball/softball and squash to extend its inclusion past the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro . Lalovic told IOC members as he made his presentation Sunday : `` Today is the most important day in the 3,000-year history of our sport . '' Later , he reflected on the reasons why wresting had preserved its place on the program when all had appeared lost . `` This crisis gave us the strength to change and we finally found we can change , '' he told reporters . `` Wrestling has become a modernized sport ready to compete with other sports . `` We have updated it to make it more spectacular and more watchable and the rules understandable , '' Lalovic added . Questioned about allegations of corruption , which have also dogged wrestling , Lalovic pointed to changes in FILA 's governance structure . `` There is no real evidence of it , but there is always suspicions , the only way to tackle this is by a modern and democratic constitution . '' The baseball/softball bid had in its presentation team Antonio Castro , the son of the Cuban leader Fidel Castro , but failed to win back its status after being voted off the Games program starting with the 2012 Games in London . Squash has long fought for Olympic status and Narayana Ramachandaran , president of its world federation , described the decision as `` heartbreaking '' after a 10-year long campaign . Earlier Sunday , the IOC voted to retain the 25 sports already on its program . Golf and Rugby Sevens had already been added to the 2016 and 2020 Games after an earlier vote in 2009 . Wrestling 's reinstatement will take the total number of sports being contested to 28 in 2020 .
Wrestling back on Olympic program for 2020 Games in Tokyo . Play off challenge of Baseball / Softball and Squash . Wins on first round of voting by the IOC session in Buenos Aires . Sport had been dogged by allegations of corruption and poor governance .