Decision on cricket’s inclusion in Olympics to be taken on September 8

With the ODI World Cup 2023 all set to begin on October 5, in India, the ICC (International Cricket Council) is having to handle several responsibilities at once. With Los Angeles hosting the Olympics in 2028, the ICC has been hard at work trying to include cricket in the marquee event.

The executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be making the crucial decision of whether to include cricket in the Olympics or not. The Committee will be making the decision on Friday, September 8. 

Furthermore, in what has come forward as a ray of hope for the ICC, IOC president Thomas Bach recently came forward to opine that he is a huge fan of cricket. He even stated that he had played the sport recently in Fiji.

"I'm really a fan of cricket, I was even playing once. I was doing one in Fiji. We were walking across a sports field. There were women playing cricket in Fiji. And then my spokesperson who is an ardent fan of cricket, came and said, 'now you have to play'. So we went to this women's cricket team. And they allowed me to play with them for some moments," Thomas Bach told CNBC TV.

Meeting of organizing committee to take place in Switzerland to finalise games for Olympics 2028

The executive board that will be taking the crucial decision consists of 15 members. consisting of Bach, four vice presidents, and 10 other members. They will be meeting up in Lausanne, Switzerland, as they listen to the LA 28 organising committee over what games to include.

Cricket has gained major traction in the USA over the past few months, and the majority of the credit would go to the recently concluded Major League Cricket (MLC), which brought the trend of the sport to the country and proved to be a major success. The ICC hopes that the sport’s inclusion in the LA 28 Olympics could go a long way in instilling the culture of the sport in the USA and further increasing its popularity.