There, ten new federations, including Kosovo, will be eligible to attend having been granted affiliated or associated members during this year's Congress in Tashkent. 

Tokyo was chosen to host next year's ahead of Orlando in Florida, polling 136 votes to the 38 of its rival. 

This is the first time in the FIG's 134-year history that a statutory General Assembly will be held on Japanese soil.

Since being founded in 1881, only on two occasions has an Extraordinary Congress been held in Asia, and that was in Seoul in 1988 and in Tianjin, China, in 1999.

Delegates attending the 2015 Congress will also have an early opportunity to assess Tokyo's preparations for the 2020 Olympics. 

President of the Japan Gymnastics Association, Hidenori Futagi, who led a strong delegation from his country in Tashkent, extended his warm thanks to the Assembly, emphasising "for many years our Association has worked alongside the FIG and its President, Professor Bruno Grandi, to promote and develop gymnastics and its disciplines in Japan and throughout the Far East."

He added: "I am excited about this opportunity to accompany the FIG and its gymnasts on the road to the Tokyo Games."

Tokyo will host the 81st Congress of the International Gymnastics Federation, where a new President will be elected to replace Bruno Grandi, who is stepping down after 19 years ©Getty Images

The decision to grant Kosovo affiliation means that 12 of the 28 International Federations who govern the sports that make up the programme in the Summer Olympics now recognise the Balkan country, who are set to make their debut at Rio 2016 after the historic decision last week by the International Olympic Committee to grant them provisional membership.

Also granted recognition by FIG were Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Central African Republic, the Cayman Islands, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia.

Botswana was, however, excluded for repeated failure to comply with statutory requirements.

It means that FIG now has a total of 142 Federations, 138 of which affiliated and four associated.

Fifty of those members are in Europe, 38 in Asia, 28 in the Americas, 24 in Africa and two in Oceania. 

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