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“We deserve another chance”: International Softball President

“We deserve another chance,” International Softball Federation President Don Porter said on his sport’s campaign to be added to the Olympic program in 2016.

During an interview with GamesBids.com, Porter explained that international softball has gone through significant change since it failed to qualify as a sport for the 2012 Olympic Games in London when IOC members didn’t support it in a 2005 vote.

“We want the IOC to know that we’re making a lot of progress since 2005…we’re correcting a number of things.”

BackSoftball, the name the ISF has given to their Olympic reinstatement campaign, will get a chance to plead their case Monday when they give a twenty-minute presentation to the IOC Executive Board. Porter, along with a team of Olympians, has already arrived in Lausanne, Switzerland where the meeting will take place.

The ISF has been working hard to create greater media awareness and gain more television coverage – both critical requirements in order to gain support from the IOC. It has been steadily growing the number of national federations and has been expanding into Africa and the Middle East.

“[The] IOC wants to see a sport that is drug free … attracts the attention of the media; is interesting and exciting,” Porter suggested with reference to his sport.

Softball is competing against baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens and squash for a maximum of two spots on the 2016 Olympic Games program; however the IOC can choose to deny entry to all seven. The Executive Board will create a two-sport shortlist in August before it goes to a full member vote October in Copenhagen.

In 2005 squash received the highest number of votes among new sports (softball was seeking reinstatement) but failed to receive the minimum required to be added to the program. Today, the Associated Press claims golf is the “unofficial front-runner”.

“Golf is a great sport,” Porter said, “I respect their organization. We’re happy to be in the competition with them.”

But the decision will be critical for the future of Softball. Porter admitted that if his campaign fails there will be an impact on the sport.

“The Olympics help give us an identity – to a point.”

He explained that without the Olympics it will be more difficult to find funding for the sport moving forward.

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