Cricket made its debut in the 1900 Paris Games, on Monday the organisers of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics recommended the inclusion of cricket at the Games after 128 years of wait.
The Los Angeles organising committee, in its proposal to IOC, has recommended cricket in its T20 version as well as four other sports for the 2028 Games, it announced on Monday. The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the same.
Baseball/softball, squash, lacrosse, and flag football, a variation of American football, are the other sports suggested. The National Football League (NFL) is located in the United States.
The LA organising committee’s nod for cricket was crucial and is a culmination of a two-year process with cricket’s world body. It will now be “reviewed and put forward by the IOC Executive Board for ratification” at the IOC Session in Mumbai.
With the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, Australia
The USA, another huge sporting market that both ICC and IOC are eager to tap into, is also increasingly lapping up cricket. The ICC T20 World Cup next year will be co-hosted by the West Indies and the USA. Casey Wasserman, the chairperson of the LA organising committee, termed the newly proposed sports as “relevant, innovative and community-based, played in backyards, schoolyards, community centres, stadiums and parks across the U.S. and the globe”.cricket could see a more sustainable stint at the Games.
“They will bring new athletes to the Games, engage diverse fanbases and expand the Games’ presence in digital spaces, further amplifying LA28’s mission to deliver an unparalleled experience,” Wasserman added.
Squash has finally made progress and won approval from the LA committee after years of unsuccessfully attempting to gain Olympic recognition, while baseball/softball, which was originally scheduled for the Tokyo Games in 2021 but was omitted from the list for the Paris Games the following year, is expected to return.
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