Can Cricket be in Olympics: It has been more than a century that Cricket hasn’t been considered as an Olympic sport.
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Cricket not being an Olympic sport has received countless suggestions and opinions over the years. Despite the same, the sport has somehow managed to not find a spot in the Olympics due to one reason or the other.
With Olympics considered as a pinnacle of sports around the world, it has been beyond the understanding of many as to why cricket administrators in the last century haven’t made enough efforts regarding incorporating the sport into Olympic Games.
Readers must note that cricket’s solitary participation in Olympics had happened way back in 1900 when Great Britain and France had played a solitary match against each other during the Paris Games.
Co-incidentally, the next Olympics Games are also scheduled to be held in Paris in 2024 but cricket won’t be included by then. A slight hope of cricketers taking part in Olympics is in 2028 during the Los Angeles Games.
Can Cricket be in Olympics?
The hope has been bolstered since this morning as ICC (International Cricket Council) Chairman Greg Barkley, with example of numbers, explained how cricket’s inclusion in the Games can be a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
“Clearly cricket has a strong and passionate fanbase, particularly in South Asia where 92% of our fans come from, whilst there are also 30 million cricket fans in the USA. The opportunity for those fans to see their heroes competing for an Olympic medal is tantalising,” Barkley said in a press release on Tuesday.
In what is a case of too early to say anything, proper procedure will be followed before cricket gets an entry in the Games. It will also be interesting to see as to which format of the sports gets a nod for even the shortest format at the highest level consumes a lot of time with respect to a majority of Olympic sports.
If infrastructure in Los Angeles become a reason for not including cricket in 2028 Games, one can expect the sport to be included in the subsequent edition as Games will be conducted in Brisbane in 2032.
It is worth mentioning that women’s cricket will be played in Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022.
