In what could be a big leap for cricket, it is being reported that the sport is set to make a return to Olympic Games at the 2028 edition of the competition scheduled to be held in Los Angeles. Even though there is no official confirmation on the same, a report carried out by The Guardian has quoted sources who claim that it is likely that T20 format of the sport could be included in the Los Angeles Olympics in both the men's and women's categories.
As per the report by The Guardian, the current proposal for the T20 cricket in the Olympics is that five teams each in the men's and women's competitions will compete for the Gold medal. The qualification in the quadrennial event will be based on the International Cricket Council's world rankings. Cricket has been part of the Olympics just once before in 1900 when Great Britain took on France in a one-off gold medal match. If T20 cricket indeed manages to feature in the 2028 edition of the Summer Games, it will be the first time in 128 years that cricket will be played.
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"We are assisting the LA 2028 organisers and providing any information will help their assessment of different sports with regards to addition to the Olympic programme. But, at this stage, a decision is due next year," ICC CEO Geoff Allardice had said after Women's cricket was including at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Notably, cricket had returned to the Commonwealth Games for the first tine in 24 years in 2022.
"Being in multi-sport games, whether it is the Commonwealth Games or the Asian Games or the African Games, putting cricket into these multisport events is good for the growth of our game," Allardice had said announcing his intention of pushing cricket for a place in the 2028 Olympics back then.