Table tennis, which will be the fourth-largest International Federation among the Olympic sports with 126 national associations, will be able to field most of the world's top players.
The International Table Tennis Federation had never distinguished between amateurs and professionals until changing its regulations in 1977 in a bid to gain recognition from the IOC.
'This has taken us nearly 10 years to achieve since we first studied the situation in relation to becoming an Olympic sport,' said Roy Evans, Welsh president of the ITTF. 'It became clear we had to change our constitution and bring in a definition of amateur in alignment with Rule 26 of the IOC charter.
'This we did, in consultation with the IOC, in April, 1977 and we became recognized by the IOC the following October. The second stage of our plans was to get into the Games itself, and I am particularly pleased we will make our debut in Seoul, where table tennis is so popular.'
Both sports will be restricted to individual events without any team competition.
Evans envisioned running the Olympic table tennis competition on the lines of the World Soccer Cup, with zonal qualifications starting in 1986 and 32 players taking part in the actual Games.
'As yet, we still have to decide how many players should represent a geographical zone, according to the playing strength of the continents,' he said. 'It could be based on the world rankings, where Asians and Europeans dominate.'
He favored the Games competition being played on a group round-robin basis, saying, 'It is too far to travel to be knocked out in the first round.'
The introduction of tennis and table tennis raised the number of Olympic sports to 23.
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Among other sports affecting the Olympic program, Monique Berlioux, the IOC director, said the IOC had accepted a proposal from the International Canoeing Federation to include a K-4 event in 1984 if the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee agreed.
The IOC rejected boxing's request for a super heavyweight division and the International Cycling Federation's proposal that four competitors from any country should be allowed to compete in an event, instead of the present maximum of three.
Judo's request for the reinstatement of the open category was accepted, provided no competitor took part in any one category.
Baseball's bid to compete in the Olympics failed to win support, although it will be a demonstration sport in Los Angeles, but the IOC asked the Amateur Baseball Federation for more information so that its request could be considered more closely.
Similar proposals concerning taikwondo, badminton, sambo wrestling and women's judo were also deferred, and the IOC gave official recognition to water skiing as a sport, though it will not yet be added to the Olympic program.
