ICC to bid for cricket inclusion in Olympic Games

KABUL (Pajhwok): The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday confirmed its intention to try for the sport’s inclusion in the Olympic Games.

The ICC said in a statement that it had convened a working group to lead the bid for cricket becoming part of the Olympic family for LA 2028, Brisbane 2032 and beyond.

The ICC chairman said: “Firstly on behalf of everyone at the ICC, I would like to congratulate the IOC, Tokyo 2020 and the people of Japan for staging such incredible Games in such difficult circumstances.”

Greg Barclay added it was truly fantastic to watch and captured the imagination of the world and “we would love for cricket to be a part of future Games”.

“Our sport is united behind this bid, and we see the Olympics as a part of cricket’s long-term future. We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 percent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics.”

He maintained: “Clearly cricket has a strong and passionate fan-base, particularly in South Asia where 92% of our fans come from, whilst there are also 30 million cricket fans in the USA.

The opportunity for those fans to see their heroes competing for an Olympic medal was tantalizing, remarked the ICC chair.

England and Wales Cricket Board Chair Ian Watmore would lead the ICC Olympic Working Group.

He will be joined by the ICC Independent Director Indra Nooyi, chair of Zimbabwe Cricket Tavengwa Mukuhlani, ICC Associate Member Director and Vice President of the Asian Cricket Council Mahinda Vallipuram and Chair of USA Cricket Paraag Marathe, who believes the time is ripe for an Olympic bid:

pr/mud