After pressure increased on the IOC and the local organizers to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympics it was announced on Tuesday that the Olympic Games indeed will be re-scheduled. They now will be held no later than the summer of 2021. The decision was made by the IOC and the LOC due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has basically stopped the entire sport community worldwide. Even though they will be held in 2021 the Olympics still will be known as Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Baseball and Softball will make their return to the program. While the six participants of the Softball tournament already are known two spots are still open for the Baseball tournament. Due to the virus the World Baseball Softball Confederation already was forced to postpone the Americas Olympic Baseball Qualifier as well as the Final Olympic Qualifying event. Italy will represent European Softball in the Olympics. Israel is the current European Baseball representative, but the Netherlands can join them if they win the Final Olympic Qualifier.