The seven bidding sports of baseball/softball, climbing, karate, roller sport, squash wakeboard and wushu are all fighting against wrestling, which was last month controversially axed from the programme after Rio 2016 by the IOC Executive Board.

All eight will present to the Executive Board on the first day of their meeting in St Petersburg, which will take place at the LENEXPO Exhibition Complex on the side-lines of the SportAccord Convention.

Each sport has been allocated a 30 minute slot in which to present their case to the Executive Board.

Following all eight presentations, the Executive Board will decide which bids will remain on the shortlist, with a public announcement on their decision scheduled to be made on the evening of May 29 in St Petersburg by the IOC director of communications Mark Adams.

It is widely predicted that only three of the eight sports will remain on the shortlist.

The sports that remain on the shortlist will then go through to the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in September, where the full IOC membership will vote for just one to join the 2020 Olympic Games sports programme.

"On Wednesday, May 29, the eight candidate sports (baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding, wrestling and wushu) vying for possible inclusion as an additional sport on the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Programme will present to the Executive Board," said an IOC statement.

"The Executive Board will then decide which of the eight sports to recommend to the 125th IOC Session for inclusion."

During their three day meeting in St Petersburg from May 29 until 31, the Executive Board will also met with the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) as they do each year at the annual SportAccord Convention.

They will also hear reports on the IOC's latest activities and receive updates on preparations for the forthcoming Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, in Rio in 2016 and in PyeongChang in 2018.

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