The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the recommendation to include cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics games on Friday, October 13. Cricket was among five sports disciplines recommended by the LA Organising Committee for the 2028 games and it has been approved by the Apex Olympic body during its executive meeting in Mumbai.
The decision to approve the LA Organising Committee's recommendation was taken during the executive board meeting in Mumbai and the final vote will be taken in the official IOC Session on Monday (October 16). Cricket was previously played in the Olympics during the 1900 edition in Paris and is set to return after 128 years.
After the executive board meeting on Friday, IOC President Thomas Bach revealed that the international committee is looking forward to adding cricket to the 2028 Olympics.
"For the IOC, it is a great opportunity to engage with new athletes and fan communities," Bach said. "We see the growing popularity of T20 cricket and we look forward to welcoming the world's best players to the US in 2028.
"With regard to the sports program of Los Angeles 28 the IOC had to take three decisions. First, it was the Los Angeles Organising Committee to introduce five new sports. These five sports are cricket, baseball, softball, flag football & squash. We will work with the ICC. We will not be working with individual cricket authorities of any nation. With cooperation from ICC, we will see how can Cricket be made more popular."
Each host city holds the right to recommend sports and the local LA Organising Committee suggested cricket, flag football, lacrosse, squash and baseball-softball ahead of the 141 IOC Session. Cricket was part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games 2022 and the recently included Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou and now the IOC is looking to promote the game on the global stage.
LA organising committee has suggested a six-team T20I event for both men's and women's cricket teams. United States of America will be able to field both teams as a host nation and the remaining teams might be included according to their ICC T20I team rankings. But official decisions on the number of teams and the game's format will be taken once the game gets final clearance on Monday.
