Wrestling, an Olympic sport since the first Games in ancient Greece, looks set to be dropped, after the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday voted to remove it from the program for 2020.

The decision, taken by the 15 members of the IOC executive board in Lausanne, Switzerland, leaves the sport grappling against seven other disciplines for inclusion at the Games, the location of which will be decided later this year.

"It's a real shock. Wrestling was not on the radar," an IOC source told AFP.