The latest message to softball fans anxiously awaiting a decision from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the sport’s status for the 2020 Tokyo Games seems to be hurry up and wait.

The Associated Press reported early Friday that the final vote on the 2020 list of sports won’t come until the IOC meeting on the eve of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which is a full year longer than had been anticipated. IOC Vice President John Coates told The Associated Press that the original plan to have a decision by this July was “too ambitious.”

“We understand the difficult decision the IOC faces in regards to the 2020 Olympic program agenda,” ASA/USA Softball Executive Director Craig Cress said. “The decision is important to many different sports. Softball and baseball have worked incredibly hard to get to this point of the selection process. ASA/USA Softball will continue to promote and work with all entities in our pursuit of being reinstated into the Olympic program.”

“As much as we would love to see a reinstatement in a quicker time frame, we respect and honor the timeline established by the IOC and look forward to the continued support of softball and baseball internationally.”

International Softball Federation (ISF) Honorary President Don Porter, who worked diligently during his 26-year run as head of that organization to get softball on the Olympic program, then saw softball appear in four Games before it was shockingly voted out in 2005, said via email he still feels good about softball’s chances. 

“While disappointed with the delay, we are optimistic that the decision will be positive for baseball and softball for Tokyo 2020,” Porter said.

Softball — part of a combined bid with baseball to return to the Olympic program for the first time since both were cut after the 2008 Beijing Games —is a favorite among the sports vying to be added, due to Japan’s great love for the sport and the fact that quality stadiums and successful leagues are already in place for both baseball and softball there. Among the sports competing with baseball and softball for a coveted spot on the 2020 Olympic slate include billiards, karate, rock climbing, skateboarding, squash and surfing.

At its December meeting in Monaco, the IOC approved President Thomas Bach’s 40-point “Olympic Agenda 2020” reform package that allows for a more events-based system and abolishes the cap of 28 sports for the Summer Games. That clears the way for host cities to propose additional events for their particular Games, so long as the number of competing athletes remains roughly the same. The group also approved a new bidding process aimed at reducing costs for competing cities that would allow hosts to stage events in multiple cities, or even outside their country, if feasible.

Coates told The Associated Press that Tokyo organizers will receive assessment criteria for the interested sports by the end of April and will have until September to formulate a list of sports they’d like to add to the program for 2020. To that end, Tokyo organizers have created a panel to consider new sports and will have their first meeting this week.

The Olympics will contested in Japan in 2020 for the fourth time in history, and for the second time in its capital city of Tokyo. The Winter Olympics have been held in Sapporo (1972) and Nagano (1998), while the Summer Games were previously in Tokyo in 1964.