Lausanne: Cricket will officially return to the Olympic stage at the Los Angeles 2028 Games, with the sport set to be contested in the fast-paced T20 format. The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board approved the event programme and athlete quotas on Wednesday, confirming that six teams will compete in both the men’s and women’s cricket tournaments.
Each gender will have a total of 90 athlete quotas, enabling every participating team to field a 15-member squad. While the specific cricket venues for LA28 are yet to be finalised, the inclusion marks a significant milestone for the sport on the global stage.
Cricket is one of five new sports to be included in the LA28 Olympic programme. The IOC approved the addition of cricket, baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse (sixes), and squash during its 141st session held in Mumbai two years ago.
Cricket's re-entry into the Olympics aligns with its growing presence in other multi-sport events such as the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. Both men’s and women’s T20 cricket featured at the Asian Games in 2010, 2014, and 2023. Notably, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games hosted eight women’s cricket teams, while the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games saw 14 men’s teams and nine women’s teams compete.
The overall LA28 Olympic programme will now consist of 31 sports, following the IOC Session’s approval of boxing in March 2025. The Games will feature a total of 351 medal events—22 more than Paris 2024—while retaining a core athlete quota of 10,500. An additional 698 athlete quotas have been allocated for the five new sports introduced by the LA28 Organising Committee.
From the original athlete allocation, the split includes 5,333 female athletes and 5,167 male athletes. The additional sports contribute 322 female and 376 male athletes. Furthermore, six mixed-gender events have been added to the LA28 programme, bringing the overall event tally to 161 women’s events, 165 men’s events, and 25 mixed events.
With IANS inputs