Hong Kong can rest easy after sports like squash and wushu, traditionally key sources of medals, were retained for the next Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014.
A compromise was reached between the Olympic Council of Asia and the Incheon Games organisers whereby, instead of the required 35 sports, an extra sport was added, allowing much-needed leeway.
Incheon will now have 36 sports on its roster - less than the 42 at last month's Guangzhou Games: the 28 Olympic sports plus baseball, bowling (tenpin), kabaddi, sepak takraw, squash, wushu, cricket and karate.
The decision was confirmed by Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and Dr Lee Yun-taek, president of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games Organising Committee, on Thursday.
With the OCA pressing for the inclusion of cricket and karate, and the Incheon organisers wanting their own agenda, a deal was struck whereby only softball was omitted, but the number of non-Olympic sports increased to eight instead seven.
There had been fears that squash and wushu might be axed as they were not favoured by South Korea. The OCA wanted a cap on the number of sports to make the hosting of future Games more affordable for bidding countries.