Cricket stands one step away from making a comeback into the Olympic fold after an absence of over a century. This comes after the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board, on Friday, recommended the sport’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Following the IOC Executive Board's recommendation, the IOC Session is now expected rubber stamp the decision on Monday, thus paving the way for cricket’s addition to the LA 2028 programme. The sport is set to be a six-team T20 event, with the USA likely to get a direct berth on the virtue of being hosts. This would leave just five spots for other teams from around the world to vie for. The qualification process will be announced at a later date, the IOC said. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘨𝘦. 🆙 Next: Ratification by the IOC Session! The proposal to include cricket, along with four other additional sports, for LA28 has been proposed by the EB to the IOC Session! 🏏#IOCSession pic.twitter.com/1W8sayJkvz — Olympic Khel (@OlympicKhel) October 13, 2023 Adding another twist to the qualification pathway, the West Indies won’t compete at the Olympics as one combined team representing the Caribbean. Instead, each of the six cricket associations – Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands – will be in contention to represent the region at the Games. This is because of the Olympics rules wherein each country requires an independent representation. Announcing the Executive Board’s decision, IOC President Thomas Bach said this ‘is a win-win situation’. “The Olympic Games will give cricket a global stage and the opportunity to grow besides the traditional cricket countries and regions. For the Olympic movement, it's an opportunity to engage with new athletes and fan communities," said Bach, before adding that the broadcast deals for India had not been signed for the LA 2028 Games. Bach said the discussion to include cricket at the LA Olympics first took place over dinner with LA organising committee chief Casey Wasserman during the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. Wasserman, Bach said, saw the ‘potential’ of cricket at the Olympics. "Not just in India but across the world, we see growing popularity of cricket and, in particular, the T20 format. Now the World Cup is a huge success already so we are looking forward to welcoming the world’s best players in cricket to perform in the US in 2028." Cricket was last played at the Olympics in Paris 1900, when just two teams competed: France and Great Britain. The two played a Test match over two days, fielding 12 players on each side. While the match was never given the status of a first-class game, Great Britain won the contest. What's in, what's out Squash, flag football, baseball and lacrosse are the other sports set to be included in the LA Olympics. The IOC has been looking at capping the number of participants at 10,500 at the Olympics, and the inclusion of a team sport like cricket along with other team sports, including baseball, flag football and lacrosse, is likely to push that over. "We will need to go over 10,500. How far we need to go we will know in 2025, when we finalise the sports programme. We will try to limit how far we can go," said IOC's Sports Director Kit McConnell. No space for compound archery Meanwhile, compound archery, where Indian archers completed a clean sweep of five gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games, will not be a part of the LA Games, with beach sprint rowing being the only new discipline to be added to the existing programme. This also means that lightweight sculls in rowing will take a hit. Weightlifting, a sport that won India a medal at Tokyo 2020, had been left off the initial programme at Los Angeles 2028 following doping and corruption scandals and a series of governance failures. However, it has now been approved for inclusion after the anti-doping management of the International Weightlifting Federation delegated to the International Testing Agency and power to sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Boxing's status still remains uncertain, as Bach reiterated that they wanted the sport to stay in the Olympic fold. The International Boxing Association has been suspended since 2019 by the IOC. The decisions are all set for approval on the second day of the IOC Session on Monday (October 16).
