Wrestling secures IOC spot in stunning comeback

The head of wrestling's world body Nenad Lalovic secured a place on the International Olympic Committee on Monday, completing a remarkable comeback after his sport was threatened with exclusion from the Olympics.

The Serbian, one of two new entrants onto the IOC with Senegal's Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, won the backing of all 83 members who voted.

The IOC dropped wrestling as an Olympic event in February 2013, sparking a crisis in the sport which has been in the Olympics since it started.

Lalovic became president of the global federation now known as United World Wrestling. Following an aggressive campaign it was voted back onto the programme for the 2020 Tokyo Games in September the same year.

The burly Belgrade businessman has since introduced a series of reforms to make wrestling more television-friendly, saying it was a question of "survival".

Rules have been changed to give more points to aggressive tactics rather than defensive.
Source: AFP