Cricket returns to Olympics after absence of over a century; Squash included in LA 2028 program | Sport-others News

Cricket will make its comeback into the Olympic fold at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 after an absence of over a century while squash will make its Olympic debut in five years’ time. Both sports’ inclusion at the Olympics in Los Angeles was formalised after a vote at the 141st International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Mumbai.
Cricket and squash were included into the LA 2028 program along with lacrosse, flag football and baseball/softball. It must be noted that the inclusion of the sports was not unanimous, with two IOC members voting against it.
On Friday, the IOC Executive Board had recommended cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
As reported The Indian Express, the sport is set to be a six-team T20 event, with the USA likely to get a direct berth on the virtue of being hosts. This would leave just five spots for other teams from around the world to vie for. The qualification process will be announced at a later date, the IOC said.

Cricket was last played at the Olympics in Paris 1900, when just two teams competed: France and Great Britain. The two played a Test match over two days, fielding 12 players on each side. While the match was never given the status of a first-class game, Great Britain won the contest.Most Read
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Talking to a select group of journals earlier last week, IOC chief Thomas Bach had said he was a “fan” of the T20 format.

“I’m a fan of T20 cricket. What speaks in favour of the sport is that it has been gaining more and more international representation. With the T20, there is a format available that can be played in an Olympic Games. (It) is a format which is of interest for more countries. We see that interest in cricket is not only limited to countries where it is already played, but also to the USA, which has a growing Indian community, so you have a huge potential there,” he said.
“The sport has a certain representation in all five continents. This is not necessarily true for every sport that we have on the Olympic programme. So this is a good space to develop it further within the continents. If we’re talking about 2028, there is time to grow,” he said.