Modern pentathlon is also increasingly looking like it will retain its place after the controversial decision to replace riding with obstacle racing.

But baseball and softball face a difficult challenge to regain its spot on the programme because of the pressure on athlete numbers.

A final recommendation on the new sports to be included at Los Angeles 2028 was originally due to be made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board following an online meeting tomorrow.

The IOC revealed yesterday that "due to ongoing discussions between the IOC and the [Los Angeles 2028] Organising Committee the Olympic Programme Commission has not yet had the opportunity to hold its meeting to prepare its final recommendation for the IOC Executive Board" and would discuss the matter at a future meeting.

Officials, however, claim that the plan remains to make a recommendation to next month’s IOC Session in Mumbai, where the announcement that cricket would be returning to the Olympics after a 128-year absence would sure to be celebrated wildly by Indian fans.

Cricket was in the Olympics once before, during the Games in Paris in 1900, when just two countries, England and France, played the lone match.

The rise of T20 cricket, particularly the Indian Premier League (IPL), has seen the sport’s popularity soar with huge television figures that the IOC are keen to tap in.

The sport has a powerful advocate within the IOC thanks to member Nita Ambani, owner of IPL team Mumbai Indians.

She is married to Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani with a family fortune estimated in excess of $91 billion (£73 billion/€85 billion).

In July, a New York cricket team owned by the Ambani family won the inaugural Major League Cricket, the latest attempt to help make the sport mainstream in the United States.

Flag football, a variant of American football played as a five-on-five non-contact sport where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end a down, has emerged as the surprise contender for inclusion at Los Angeles 2028.

For years, the National Football League (NFL) has been pushing for flag football to be included as an Olympic event to grow interest in the game worldwide.

Last summer, the NFL and International Federation of American Football formed a partnership, called Vision28, to push for flag football to be a sport at Los Angeles 2028.

Breaking, which is due to make its Olympic debut at Paris 2024, is expected to be the third sport from the list of nine shortlisted added to Los Angeles 2028.

Boxing, modern pentathlon and weightlifting, all left off the initial programme for Los Angeles 2028, are set to be confirmed.

Boxing, whose International Federation are currently suspended due to governance issues, has already been guaranteed a place at Los Angeles 2028 by the IOC, as insidethegames exclusively revealed.

Weightlifting, whose historical doping issues left its place under threat, are to be rewarded for tackling the issue with the election of new executive officials whose determination to clean up the sport has impressed the IOC.

Modern pentathlon appeared to be the sport most in danger after the allegations of horse cruelty at Tokyo 2020.

The decision to drop riding in place of obstacle racing has bitterly divided the sport but the new format is said to excite television officials in the US and retains powerful backing within the IOC, particularly from influential member Prince Albert II of Monaco, who are willing to give it another chance.

Baseball and softball could be the sports to miss out as the tournaments, if they followed the schedule played at Tokyo 2020 when six teams took part in each event, would add nearly 250 athletes to a quota already stretching at its 10,500 limit. 

A big part of the IOC’s decision to postpone this week’s announcement was due to continuing negotiations between them and Los Angeles 2028 over who would fund the addition of further sports skating, sport climbing and surfing which have been added to the Olympic programme since Californian organisers signed the Host City Contract in 2017.

The IOC is said to have Los Angeles 2028 chairman Casey Wasserman a particularly tough negotiator not prepared to back down easily.