-
- Published: October 13, 2023 18:01
New Delhi: Cricket lovers have long grumbled about absence of the ancient sport in the world’s biggest sporting extravaganza but come 2028 and that may no longer be the case.
The International Olympic Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday accepted the recommendation to include T20 cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Notably, the organizers of Los Angeles 2008 Olympic Games were pushing for inclusion of at least 5 sports – cricket, squash, flag football, baseball-softball and lacrosse.
The green signal for including cricket in Olympics came at the IOC executive board meeting in Mumbai. Briefing the media after approving recommendation of host country, IOC president Thomas Bach said all 5 sports were “in line” with the general ethos of the LA28.
“These proposals have been accepted as a package by the IOC executive board taking into consideration that these proposals and these sports are fully in line with the sports culture of our host in ’28, with the American sports culture,” Bach said after the executive board meeting.
Cricket’s last hurdle before Olympics entry
This paves the way for cricket’s inclusion in Olympics from 2028 however one last hurdle stil remains before it gets official entry into Games. The IOC will vote on the proposal to include cricket in Olympics at its ‘Session’. The voting scheduled between Oct 14-16 in Mumbai, if okays the proposal, will mark cricket’s official entry into Olympic Games.
The ICC pitching for inclusion of T20 cricket in the Olympics recommended six-team T20 event for both men & women. The participating teams will be the top ranked & best performing teams of the ICC’s Men’s & Women’s T20 rankings.
The ICC pitched for T20 format of the game as this has strong fan following, with millions of cricket lovers taking to LIVE streaming for watching the match. Moreover, the LA 2028 organizers as well IOC management committee also favoured inclusion of a game with compact time duration. T20 cricket fitted the bill.
Cricket’s past stint with Olympics in 1900
Cricket, the most popular sport of India & Asian continent has never been included in Olympics. Off late, game’s popularity is growing globally but it’s entry in Olympics remained doubtful till date.
For the unversed, cricket featured in Olympic championship, though only once in 1900 Games. That was its first & last stint with Olympics.
Other games baseball and softball have been on & off in the Games. Baseball was included in 2020 Tokyo Games but didn’t featured in 2012 & 2016 Games. Softball, considered the female counterpart of baseball was popular draw in Olympics, on at least five previous formats.