Lausanne, Switzerland (My Sportsbook) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board announced several changes for the program of events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The purpose of the commission was to increase the participation of female athletes and the changes made will result in nearly 80 more competitors. However, there still will be a total of 10,500 athletes participating.

Among the increases in women's sports teams for 2008, football, hockey and handball will now have 12 teams, while table tennis will replace doubles events with team competitions.

There were several changes not accepted by the Executive Board, though, most notably the request that boxing not be included as a women's sport.

Boxing and baseball are currently the only existing summer Olympic sports without women's events.

Also rejected by the commission were requests for an increase in men's basketball teams from 12 to 16 and women's softball from eight to 10.

Other requests not accepted dealt with adding the number of groups in rhythmic gymnastics from 10 to 12; inclusion of three additional weight categories in wrestling; inclusion of mixed doubles in tennis and increasing the number of athletes in weightlifting from 15 to 20.

The board also denied a request to include natural track luge at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.