Sport climbing, triathlon to feature at 2023 European Games

(Reuters) - Sport climbing will make its debut at the European Games after being included on the programme for Krakow-Malopolska 2023, the European Olympic Committees said.

The sport climbing event will offer qualifying opportunities for athletes ahead of the 2024 Games in Paris. The sport is set for its first appearance at the Olympics this year in Tokyo.

Triathlon will return to the European Games for a second time after featuring in the first edition in Baku in 2015.

"Sport climbing and triathlon are two exciting Olympic sports that we are thrilled to welcome to the Krakow-Malopolska European Games," said Hasan Arat, Chair of the Coordination Commission for European Games 2023.

The Games are expected to be held in June-July 2023.

Sport climbing and triathlon join archery, badminton, beach handball, boxing, canoe, karate, modern pentathlon, muaythai, shooting and taekwondo on the 2023 programme, with more sports set to be included in the coming weeks.

(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)