TOKYO -- Baseball and softball still have a chance of being included in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, IOC President Thomas Bach said Wednesday. "This will be under discussion," Bach said at a news conference. "We will have the first broad discussion in December in a meeting of the executive board of the IOC, then the executive board will present its first discussion paper to the IOC session in Sochi." Baseball and softball were dropped from the 2012 program after a 2005 vote by the IOC. The two sports merged into a single federation in a bid for inclusion in Tokyo, but lost out to wrestling in an IOC vote in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Squash also had sought a spot in the 2020 program. Tokyos winning bid for the 2020 Olympics has prompted calls in Japan for baseball and softball to be included when the Japanese capital hosts the games. While the Olympic Charter states that a sports inclusion in the program must be decided not later than the session electing the host city, Bach stressed the need to be flexible. "I am open for more flexibility in the Olympic program," said Bach, who was elected president in September to succeed Jacques Rogge. "But first we have to see what the rest of my colleagues in the IOC think." Baseball and softball are very popular in Japan and there are many existing facilities in the Tokyo area that could be used if the sports were included. Bach was accompanied by IOC vice-president John Coates, who heads the co-ordination commission for the Tokyo Games. Japan is scaling down the cost of the planned 80,000-seat main stadium following an uproar from some prominent architects who think its too big and expensive. Coates said the IOC is open to changes as long as the cutbacks dont compromise the basic plan of the facility. "Its inevitable that costs will be reduced," Coates said. "We are always open to that as long as the basic facility isnt compromised." Japan has been in territorial disputes with both China and South Korea but Bach said he didnt see that as a problem that would affect the 2020 Games. "Sport is always about building bridges and never about building walls," Bach said. "The language of sport is the language of dialogue and mutual respect, and this is why I think sport can play a positive role." Over the past year, China has increased patrols near the Japanese-administered islands that it calls Diaoyu, and which Japan calls Senkaku. Billy Cundiff Browns Jersey . In second was Jessica Korda, the daughter of former tennis player Petr Korda who won last years Womens Australian Open at Royal Melbourne in a playoff for her first U.S. LPGA Tour victory. John... Manziel Youth Jersey . Lee missed this past weekends series against Tampa Bay to attend his grandfathers funeral in California. 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The league also upgraded the flagrant foul 1 Ibakas was given for hitting Griffin as the two battled for position in the paint to a Flagrant Foul 2, meaning Ibaka should have been ejected from the game.TAMPA, Fla. -- Steven Stamkos and Ben Bishop helped the Tampa Bay Lightning keep their solid start rolling along. Stamkos scored a tiebreaking goal with 5:04 left in the third period, Bishop made 25 saves, and the Lightning beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Thursday night. "We found a way," Stamkos said. "When youre a good team, you have to find a way to win these games, and we did." Stamkos gave the Lightning (5-2) a 2-1 lead when he skated in from the right wing boards and lifted an in-close shot over goalie Josh Harding during 4-on-4 play. Sami Salo added an empty-net goal in the final minute. Bishop, 5-0 this season, made a series of saves midway through the second, denying solid scoring chances by Jason Pominville and Dany Heatley. "Again its early, but he gives us a chance to win the game every single night," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Thats what you want in your goaltender." Tampa Bay had planned to split playing time between Bishop and Anders Lindback (0-2) this season. However, Bishops performance has earned him the bulk of the work thus far. "Its just not me," Bishop said. "Its the guys in front of me ... the guys are playing great. We win some games 7-2, and then we can win a game like this." Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay. Mikko Koivu scored for Minnesota, which was coming off a 4-1 loss at Toronto on Tuesday night in which the Wild outshot the Maple Leafs 37-14. "Obviously, were doing something good, but were missing something and we have to find a way to find the net more," Koivu said. Harding, who entered with an 0.94 goals-against-average, made a pad save on Stamkos during a two-man breakaway late in the second. He finished with 27 saves. Koivu tied it at 1 from the low left circle at 11:05 of the third. Tampa Bay, which entered with the NHLs sixth-best power play,, took advantage of its initial chance when Johnson scored from the left circle at 14:02 of the first.dddddddddddd The Wild, who started play with the NHLs second-worst short-handed unit, have given up at least one goal while the opponent had the man advantage in seven of eight games this season. Minnesota stopped the Lightning on 6 of 7 power-play opportunities. The Wild went 0 for 2 with the man advantage. "To me, that was the story of this game," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. "We talked before the game about how we have to have the confidence to play the game, but weve got to be smart, too, against a team like that, with that power play, in their building. "Just the momentum that they were generating off their power play put us on our heels all night. And then our puck work wasnt good enough to get us out of that. We have to address that. We cant expect to win an awful lot of games when were scoring one goal." Tampa Bay captain Martin St. Louis was in the lineup two days after taking a shot off his skate during a 5-1 victory over Los Angeles. The right wing was wearing a walking boot on his right foot earlier Thursday. "Tests were to a point where, whatever damage is done, he cant do anything worse to it." Cooper said. "Its a pain tolerance thing." St. Louis said he felt fine. "Its a big win for our team," St. Louis said. "Bis was strong again. Your goaltender is going to hide some of our mistakes, and I thought he did that." NOTES: Tampa Bay outshot the Wild 13-2 in the third. ... Minnesota D Keith Ballard, hit in the face by a puck during Monday nights game at Buffalo, sat out his second straight game "(Hes) not feeling well," Yeo said. "More than anything else this is preventative." ... Wild G Niklas Backstrom was the backup after missing the previous four games due to a knee injury. cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '