The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide in November whether to axe minor sports from the Games calendar.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has voiced concerns over the ever-expanding nature of the Olympics.

He believes minor events of interest to only a few countries should be dispensed with.

And he says any new sport to come in should be at the expense of an existing event.

The issue will be discussed by the IOC executive board and the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

But an IOC spokeswoman said no decisions would be taken yet.

Rogge set up a special commission earlier this year to look into the Olympic sports and assess their popularity.

The findings will be presented to an IOC meeting in Mexico in November.

"If our audit conducted by IOC shows that the new sports have the popularity internationally, it could replace one of the 28 sports in the current Olympic programme," said Rogge.

"The Olympic programme must reflect what the youth want."

The schedule or the 2004 Athens Games is already in place and any change decided in November would first impact on the 2008 summer Games in Beijing.

Over a dozen sports are lobbying for inclusion such as bowling, squash, karate, billiards and snooker, wushu, netball, ballroom dancing and surfing.

Past Olympic sports seeking reinstatement include golf, cricket, rugby, pelote basque, polo, tug-of-war and water skiing.