Wrestling boosted by birthplace

Wrestlers participating in an international tournament have been granted rare access to compete at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece as part of a campaign to keep the sport from being dropped after the 2016 Games.

The site at Ancient Olympia, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Athens, is normally off limits to sporting competitions and is used for the Olympic flame lighting ceremony. The 15-country tournament will take place on Saturday and Sunday.

Wrestling was one of the sports at ancient Olympics, which also included running, boxing, long jump, javelin and discus. “This was the birthplace of wrestling so we are going back to our roots,” Nenad lalovic, the head of the sport’s governing body, said Friday. “We were very happy to be allowed to use a place like this for a wrestling tournament - and we’re very thankful.”

The IOC in February dropped wrestling from a list of core sports, leaving it to compete for a place in the 2020 Games against baseball and squash. A decision will be taken in September, when the IOC’s executive board meets in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to select the host city with Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid in the running. lalovic took over after the sport’s exclusion, and said he hoped sweeping changes to the body’s operating rules and new international competition rules for the sport would help get wrestling re-instated.