After 128 years Cricket makes a return to the Olympics. Cricket made its sole appearance at the 1900 Paris Olympics in which Great Britain defeated France in the final. But now in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics Cricket will be included. Let us take a look at the format, Path to Olympics and other necessary stuff.
IOC President Thomas Bach spoke about the inclusion of Cricket in the 2028 Olympics and said that the IOC would work with the ICC to decide on the number of participating teams.
“Cricket is getting more popularity all over the world and presently Cricket World Cup is being held in India Successfully. So we look forward for cricket players to participate in 2028 Olympics. Indian origin people play a lot of cricket and recently we organised a cricket tournament in Dallas too. Los Angeles had an opportunity for the same and they included it in the events “ said Thomas Bach.
“We will work with the ICC as we do with all sports. We will not be working with individual cricket authorities of any nation. With co-operation from the ICC we will see how we can make Cricket more popular. We are still in the proposal mode, the number of teams participating is still not clear yet.” he added.
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What will be the Format of Cricket in LA28 Olympics?
The cricket matches in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics will be held in the shortest format of the game, i.e., the T20 format. Since last year Cricket has been included in the Commonwealth Games, and the recently concluded Asian Games. In both the tournaments, cricket has been held in T20 format.
With T20 being a fast and popular format of the game, it is only logical and ideal to bring out the format. On the other hand, with roughly 5 years remaining, the USA can continue its development to field a side for the tournament.
As for the qualifying stages and methods, no decision has been made. But it is understood that the ICC will be eyeing to field the top 6 best teams in both Men’s and Women’s discipline.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board on Friday officially recommended the inclusion of Baseball/Softball, Cricket (T20), Flag Football, Lacrosse (sixes), and Squash in the 2028 Olympics which will be hosted by Los Angeles, United States of America.
The official announcement on the inclusion of these five sports is yet to be announced. The IOC posted the latest development regarding the inclusion of these five sports on X which read, “Following a review by the Olympic Programme Commission, the IOC Executive Board puts the @LA28 Organising Committee’s additional sports proposal to the IOC Session. Baseball/softball, cricket (T20), flag football, lacrosse (sixes), and squash are the 5 sports submitted.”
