The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has accepted the proposal of the Organising Committee of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games to include cricket in the sports programme.
Apart from cricket, the EB has also accepted as a package the proposal by Los Angeles to include squash, baseball/softball, flag football and lacrosse (six-a-side). The proposal will now be put before the IOC Session for one final approval.
IOC Chief Thomas Bach said that the reason for including these five sports are that they perfectly fir well with the sports culture of the United States. Commenting on cricket, Bach said that the inclusion of the sport sits well with the Indian community in the United States and noted that a very successful tournament was organised in Dallas a few months back.
Bach meanwhile, also accepted that cricket’s, T20 format’s popularity is growing not only in India but globally and he is looking forward to having the best cricket players from all over the world participating in the Olympic Games.
“Having cricket in the Olympic Games is a very attractive prospect for Los Angeles and for the Olympic movement,” Bach said.