Cricket to feature at 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

MUMBAI: Cricket will feature as one of five new sports at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles after being approved on Monday in a vote of the International Olympic Committee’s session.

The IOC’s executive board last week accepted a proposal by LA organizers for cricket’s Twenty20 format, together with baseball/softball, flag football, squash and lacrosse, to be included.

But the final choice still had to be voted on Monday at the IOC session in Mumbai, one of the global centers for cricket, as India hosts the men’s 50-over Cricket World Cup.

Only two delegates at the session voted against the new sports.

Organizers have proposed a six-team event, in both men’s and women’s Twenty20 cricket, the shortest form of the game.

Cricket last featured at the 1900 Paris Olympics, when a team from Britain beat a side representing France.

Adding cricket to the Olympic program is an obvious move, financially speaking.

It would tap into the lucrative South Asian market, attracting fans in countries such as India and Pakistan.

The Indian Premier League, featuring cricket’s global stars, has helped India become the unquestioned economic driving force of the sport, thanks to legions of fans and lucrative broadcasting deals in a nation where the game is almost a religion.

Mumbai is also home to the Mumbai Indians — an IPL team owned by India IOC board member Nita Ambani.

India won both men’s and women’s cricket gold medals at the recent multi-sport Asian Games in China.

Meanwhile, Major League Cricket, a professional Twenty20 League, launched in the US in July, with the US a co-host of next year’s men’s T20 World Cup together with territories in the West Indies.

“It’s a win-win situation,” International Cricket Council