The combined bid of baseball and softball were among eight sports shortlisted yesterday for inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Tokyo Olympic organizers selected the eight from a list of 26 sports that had applied for inclusion. The other sports shortlisted are bowling, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, surfing and the martial art of wushu. Baseball and women's softball was considered a favorite because of the popularity of those sports in Japan. The federations of the eight sports will next make a presentation in Tokyo on Aug. 7-8, and organizers will make recommendations for inclusion to the ınternational Olympic Committee by Sept. 30. The IOC will make a final decision on which sports will be added in August 2016, when it meets ahead of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.