New Delhi: Despite missing out on the International Olympic Committee’s (ICC) preliminary list, the International Cricket Committee (ICC) expects cricket to be able to find a place in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as an additional sport. The IOC on Thursday released a preliminary list of 28 sports for the 2028 Olympics, including skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing.
Boxing, Weightlifting and Modern Pentathlon are not included in this. The respective international federations of these sports have been given time till 2023 to meet certain criteria to secure their place in the Olympics 2028. The list will be put up for approval at the IOC meeting in Beijing in February next year, which is likely to be only formal.
The host city Los Angeles may propose additional sports in 2023 for inclusion in the 2028 Olympics, and the ICC hopes to include cricket. Baseball, softball and another variant of American football may be in the running for additional sports in the Olympics 2028. “The process of selecting additional games by the host city will begin next year (2023) and we expect cricket to be involved,” a member of the ICC board told PTI on condition of anonymity.
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“We know it (cricket being included as an additional sport) will be difficult. There is no guarantee and we will face tough competition from few other sports to get place in Olympic Games 2028.” The ICC announced its intention to include cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games in August and was also backed by the BCCI (Cricket Board of India), the world’s richest board.
The ICC had also constituted the Olympic Working Group for this. ICC chairman Greg Barkley then said, “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.” The IOC will decide on additional games in 2024, based on proposals from the organizers of the Los Angeles Games. (agency)