The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) plans of globalizing cricket and making it a part of the Olympics received a much-needed shot on the arm after the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics organizing committee decided to recommend the sport’s inclusion at the Games.
The LA organising committee’s decision will be officially announced after the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) 141st session in Mumbai on Sunday.
Historically, cricket was played at the Olympics once in 1900 when England faced France in a single match to decide the gold medal. According to sources, there will be a T20 men’s and women’s tournament in LA 2028 just like they had in the recently concluded Asian Games.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), meanwhile, was delighted at the decision. ICC Chairman Greg Barclay said, “We are delighted that LA28 have recommended cricket for inclusion in the Olympics. Whilst this is not the final decision, it is a very significant landmark towards seeing cricket at the Olympics for the first time in more than a century.”
“I’d like to thank LA28 for their support during the new sport evaluation process over the last two years and we look forward to the final decision being taken at the IOC Session, in India, during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup next week,” he added.
After a two-year process, in which the ICC worked closely with LA28, the list of sports to be added in LA included cricket, which will now be put forward for approval to the IOC.
The decision of the LA 2028 organising committee put an end to the speculations over cricket’s return to the Olympic fold, which will help the ICC to spread its wings to the non-cricketing markets, especially in Europe. While the game enjoys popularity in the subcontinent and in Asia overall, the recently-concluded Asian Games gave a glimpse of how the game has spread across the Asian continent.
The IOC hosting its session in the country for the first time since 1983 (New Delhi) also points towards the Olympic body’s increasing focus on India.
Cricket’s inclusion in the Los Angeles edition could also pave the way for a more sustainable stint, given that the 2032 Olympics will be held in Brisbane, where the game has a large following, especially in the Trans-Tasman region.
As far as cricket in the US is concerned, the ICC has been able to tap the market to a large extent, thanks to the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi diasporas. In the past five-six years, India’s tour to the West Indies, is incomplete without a couple of T20Is played in the US. In addition to that, the ICC has also granted the hosting rights of next year’s T20 World Cup jointly to the West Indies and the US.
Besides cricket, squash, after years of being on the fringes of Olympic inclusion, has finally received the nod from the LA committee while baseball/softball, part of the Tokyo Games in 2021 but missing from the roster in Paris next year, is set to return.