Cricket is set to break a century–plus absence and become an Olympic sport for just the second time at the Los Angeles 2028 Games, a report Monday revealed.
According to the UK Times newspaper, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is set to decide what new disciplines will be welcomed into the fold for Los Angeles on Friday.
The report claims men’s and women’s T20 cricket, an abbreviated form of the game, will make the cut and return for the first time since the 1900 Paris Games.
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The current proposal is for five teams in each competition, with qualification based on the International Cricket Council’s world rankings. It would be the first Olympic cricket witnessed since a one-off gold medal match in Paris some 128 years ago, the Guardian reports.
IOC president Thomas Bach is reportedly a big fan of bringing cricket into the Olympics given the sport’s mass appeal in countries such as India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
There are a number of other disciplines which have pitched for inclusion in Los Angeles: karate, flag football, kickboxing, baseball-softball, lacrosse, breakdancing, squash and motorsport amongst them.
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