Cricket was excluded from the provisional list of 28 sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Thursday.
The development comes after the International Cricket Council (ICC) had launched a bid to have cricket as part of the LA 2028 Olympics in August this year.
Popularity of the sport, cost, complexity, uniqueness and relevance with young audiences are some of the parameters considered by the IOC while including the sport in the Olympics programme.
Boxing, weightlifting and modern pentathlon are the other three sports alongside cricket that failed to make the cut in the provisional list.
Cricket has featured just once before in the Olympics during the 1900 Paris Games where Great Britain played France in a one-off match. Great Britain won the match by 158 runs.
The 1998 Commonwealth Games was the last time cricket was a part of a global multi-sport event where 16 teams played in the 50-over format. South Africa won the gold medal beating Australia by four wickets in the final. The matches, though, were not accorded international status.
However, after 24 years, the sport will make a reappearance in the form of the women’s T20 international tournament during the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Cricket has also been played at the Asian Games, twice. Guangzhou 2010 was the first time cricket was a part of the Asian Games and was later again included in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. However, the BCCI did not field a team in either tournament citing a hectic international calendar.
Meanwhile, the provisional list of shortlisted 28 sports will be submitted for approval to the IOC during their February session in 2022.
Featured photo: Aamir Qureshi / AFP
