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Cricket included in 2022 Asian Games

Dixit Bhargav
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Cricket included in 2022 Asian Games

Cricket included in 2022 Asian Games: The sport will make a return to the Asian Games after eight years in the year 2022.

In a development which has it in it to come as a relishing one for the Asian fans is that cricket has been included for the 2022 Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou. The decision was taken at the OCA’s General Assembly in Bangkok.

Despite India not participating in the event due to packed international schedule, cricket was played during the Asian Games in 2010 and 2014 in Guangzhou and Incheon respectively.

“Yes, cricket has been included in the sports programme for 2022 Hangzhou Games,” OCA honorary vice-president Randhir Singh told PTI.

“We welcome the decision”

IOA (Indian Olympic Association) General Secretary Rajeev Mehta welcomed the decision of the OCA (Olympic Council of India). “We welcome the decision of the OCA. Which format will be played is not yet confirmed but it is a welcome decision,” Mehta said in Bangkok after attending the meeting.

“The IOA will request the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to send a cricket team in the 2022 Asian Games. India can win in both men and women’s events and increase its medal tally,” Mehta added.

“There is a lot of time to go for 2022 Asian Games. In due time, we will discuss and decide,” a BCCI official opined highlighting the three years remaining in the tournament.

When BCCI had declined the offer to play in the 2014 Asian Games, the then OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah didn’t hesitate in saying that the Indian administrators are only looking to make money from the sport and not working to promote it globally.

“I’m sorry that India, for the second Games, did not send a team. I respect their decision but I believe the people in charge are not interested in promotion of the game but only in making it a business, in making money out of it. They want to control the market and control the game,” he had mentioned.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

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Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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