BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Seven months after losing its Olympic place, wrestling was reinstated for the 2020 Games on Sunday when the IOC overturned a decision many members thought was a mistake.

The sport, which has ancient roots in the Olympics, easily defeated bids from baseball-softball and squash. It will now join the program of the 2020 Games, which were awarded to Tokyo on Saturday.

Wrestling, which was surprisingly dropped from the list of core sports in February, received 49 votes to win in the first round of secret balloting by the International Olympic Committee. Baseball-softball got 24 votes and squash 22.

The decision capped a frantic six-month campaign by the wrestling body FILA to revamp the organization and reshape the sport to save its Olympic status.

"With this vote, you have shown that the steps we have taken to improve our sport have made a difference," FILA president Nenad Lalovic said. "I assure each of you that our modernization will not stop now. We will continue to strive to be the best partner to the Olympic movement that we can be."

The vote followed final presentations by all three sports, with Lalovic promising the delegates that wrestling had learned its lesson.

"Today is the most important day in the 2,000-year history of our sport," Lalovic said. "We feel the weight of that history. Remaining on the Olympic program is crucial to wrestling's survival."

Wrestling goes back to the ancient Olympics in Greece and has been on the program of every modern games except 1900. The sport was caught off guard when it was axed by the IOC executive board -- a decision that surprised even most IOC members.