ICC to push Cricket in Olympics I ICC tries to include cricket in olympics 2028 to be held at Los Angeles I Cricket in Olympics I ICC to push for cricket inclusion in olympics
Cricket in the Olympics 
Table of Contents
Headlines
- ICC begins preparations to include cricket in Olympics
- Efforts to include cricket in 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
- Cricket was included in the Olympics in 1900, when two countries participated
Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Tuesday that it will stake a claim for cricket to be included in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The ICC has been trying to include cricket in the Olympics for some time now and its claim is also supported by the world’s richest board BCCI (Cricket Board of India). BCCI secretary Jay Shah had clarified his opinion on this recently.
The BCCI was not very enthusiastic about the inclusion of cricket in the Olympic Games in the past given its autonomy and fears of interference from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), but now Shah has assured that if the ICC is the world’s biggest sporting event. If it succeeds in getting a place in India, then India will participate in it. The ICC has also set up an Olympic Working Group that will work towards making cricket a part of the Olympic Games from 2028.
ICC Chairman Greg Barkley said in a statement: “We are all unanimous in this claim and we see the Olympics as the future of cricket.” We have over a billion fans globally and almost 90 per cent of them want to see cricket in the Olympics. It is clear that cricket has a strong and passionate fan base especially in South Asia where it has a fan base of 92 per cent. Apart from this, there are 30 million cricket fans in America itself. It would be great for these fans to watch their heroes compete for an Olympic medal.
Including cricket in Olympics is not easy
Cricket was included in the Commonwealth Games in 1998. Now the sport will return as women’s cricket at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Barclay congratulated the organizers of the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics for successfully holding the Games despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“On behalf of the ICC, I would like to congratulate the IOC (International Olympic Committee), the organizers of Tokyo 2020 and the people of Japan for organizing the wonderful Games under difficult circumstances,” he said. It was really great to see sports take over the sentiments of people and we would love to see cricket participate in future sports.
“We believe it would be great to include cricket in the Olympic Games but we know that it is not easy to make it to the Olympics as many other sports also want it,” he said. But we feel this is the best time for us to step up our efforts and showcase how great a partnership between cricket and the Olympics can be.
According to the Los Angeles Games website, the IOC will decide in 2024 which sports are to be included in the 2028 Olympics. “The IOC will consider a proposal from Los Angeles 2028 to include a new sport in the 2028 Olympics in 2024,” it said. Los Angeles will be the third organizing committee after Tokyo and Paris to propose the inclusion of new sports.
England and Wales Cricket Board President Ian Whatmore will lead the ICC Olympic Working Group and will be accompanied by ICC’s Independent Director Indra Nooyi. Zimbabwe Cricket’s Tawengwa Mukuhalani, ICC Associate Member Director and Asian Cricket Council’s Vice President Mahinda Vallipuram and US Cricket’s Parag Marathe are also part of the working group.
Cricket was included in these games only once in the Paris Olympics 1900 but then only two teams participated in it. England won the gold medal by defeating France in the two-day match.
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