All seven candidates - baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball and squash - are seeking a place at the Games from 2016 onward after being rejected by International Olympic Committee (IOC) members in 2005.

 

Today delegations from each of them will make a 20-minute presentation to the IOC's rulng Executive Board which will be followed by a 10-minute question and answer session.

 

They will start to appear before the Execuitve Board in alphabetical order, starting with baseball at 2pm [Lausanne time].

 

Squash and karate were closest to Olympic status four years ago, after baseball and softball were voted off the 2012 London Games schedule by the IOC.

 

But each fell short of the required a two-thirds majority.

 

The system has been changed this year.

 

The Executive Board is expected to recommend two sports that will go before the full IOC membership for approval at its Session in Copenhagen in October, although some experts believe that three sports could be chosen to give the members a choice.

 

A simple majority will then be enough for the sport to be added to the 2016 Olympics which will be held in either Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo.

 

Bookmakers in Britain have made squash the 6-4 favourites to be elected with baseball, softball and karate all priced at 2-1.

 

Rugby sevens and golf, the two sports that most Olympic watchers believe will be chosen, are priced at a generous 4-1 and 5-1 respectively.

 

Golf are expected to turn up with some heavy-hitters today, including European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie (pictured) and former womens' number one Anneka Sorenstam with Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson and United States PGA commissioner Tim Finchem.

 

Montgomerie said: "They are going to give me something [to say] then I'm going to 'Montify' it.

 

"When I heard of the other candidates I thought it was my time to step up and say, ' Hang on a minute, we can vote for golf ahead of roller sports, softball'.

 

"When tennis became an Olympic sport I felt it was time golf followed suit.

 

"It's a very, very important meeting for the game of golf."

 

Rugby, whose campaign to regain a place in the Olympics they lost after the 1924 Olympics in Paris when the US won the gold medal has been widely praised, will be represented by International Rugby Board (IRB) President Bernard Lapasset.

 

He will be joined by Mike Miller, the Secretary General of the IRB, Agustín Pichot, the former captain of the Argentina sevens team, Cheryl Soon, captain of the Australia team that won Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens earlier this year, Humphrey Kayange, captain of the Kenya sevens team and Anastassiya Khamova, one of Kazakhstan’s top female players, a referee at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 and a leading figure in the Women’s Game.

Lapasset said: “Our team is very excited and honoured to be presenting to the IOC Executive Board.

 

"We are looking forward to sharing our Olympic vision and highlighting Rugby sevens’ case for Olympic Games inclusion, which we firmly believe would be good for the Olympic Games and good for Rugby.

“We are committed to the continued global growth and development of the sport and its values and it is this aim that underpins our current campaign to secure the introduction of Rugby sevens in the Olympic Games, beginning in 2016.

 

Miller said: “We believe that Rugby sevens has much to offer the Olympic Movement.

 

"We would bring a new young and vibrant audience to the Games.

 

"We would help every National Olympic Committee to develop their sevens team and work with members of the Olympic Family to share knowledge – and in so doing, benefit from one another’s experience.

 

"Rugby is reaching out.

 

"We want to spread our spirit and sport to new countries and see more players – and more women players – in every single country.”
 

The IOC claims that it wants sports with universal appeal, which will not burden a host city with added costs and have a proven record fighting doping.

 

A full report of what happens this afternoon will be available later on insidethegames.