Olympics and Cricket possible in the future

Olympics and Cricket: Has the Olympics ever been the most popular sport between India and Pakistan or is it possible in the future?

During the Olympics, you all must have noticed how intense the emotions of sports lovers are in all countries. Players do their best for the prestige of their country in every match and those who do not get there keep their eyes on the TV.

At the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics 2020, Pakistanis must have felt this passion during the competitions of weightlifter Talha Talib and athlete Arshad Nadeem. However, a question must have arisen in the minds of many sports lovers in India and Pakistan and that is why cricket has not been included in the Olympics so far?

Some new sports, such as karate, have been added to the Tokyo Olympics this year, and since then there has been a debate about the absence of cricket at the Olympics.

Baseball was previously inducted into the 2008 Beijing Olympics and re-inducted into the Tokyo Olympics.

According to a recent announcement issued by the Olympics, break dance will be included in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Some people have even demanded that chair leadership be given Olympic status. In such a scenario, the possibility of cricket being included in the Olympics in the future cannot be ruled out.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on August 10 that it intends to make the sport part of the Olympics in the future. The ICC says its initial goal is to offer the sport to be part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

According to the ICC, a working group has also been formed in this regard.

However, some people are of the opinion that the absence of cricket in the Olympics is a good thing because there are occasions during the Olympics when the attention of sports lovers in India and Pakistan is diverted from cricket to other sports, albeit for a short time. Goes to This is also true to some extent.

On the other hand, there are those who believe that if cricket was included in the Olympics, India would definitely get a medal and that would help introduce cricket to other countries at the international level.

Has cricket ever been part of the Olympic Games? If yes, when? And if not, why not? However, serious efforts have been made for this.

First Olympic A cricket game

When the Olympics were first held in 1896, it included cricket, but no team was available to participate, so it had to be canceled.

Four years later, cricket was included in the 1900 Olympics. The Olympics took place in the French capital, Paris. Cricket matches have been held only once in the history of the Olympics, also during the same Olympics.

Surprisingly, France, where cricket matches took place at the Olympics, has nothing to do with cricket at the moment. The Paris Olympics hosted 19 sports, including cricket. The tournament featured four teams: the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and France.

Belgium and the Netherlands abruptly withdrew before the match. In other words, there were only two teams left in this match: Britain and France. Only one match was played between the two and it was declared the final.

The rules of this match were also a bit different. The number of players in these cricket teams was not 11 but 12. You will also note that at that time there was only Test cricket, ie matches last for five days, but in the Olympics this match lasted for only two days.

For this, Britain did not send its national team but a local club level team was sent to participate in the Olympics. A French team was also formed, which included British officers living in Paris.

Britain defeated France in a two-day match. It is also surprising that the winning team of this match did not get a gold medal but the British team got a silver medal and the French team got a bronze medal.

Both teams were given pictures of the Eiffel Tower as a memento, but the most interesting thing was that both teams did not know that they were competing in the Olympics. The match was included in the official Olympic statistics 12 years later, and both teams were awarded gold and silver medals.

It was also decided at the Paris Olympics that cricket would be included in the third Olympics to be held in St. Louis, but once again the participating countries were not found and due to this the plan to include cricket in the competition. Had to cancel Cricket has not been included in the Olympic Games since then.

Sports journalist Sharad Kadrikar said: "When the modern Olympics started, they did not make room for five-day matches.

In those days there were only test matches. It was difficult to manage such long matches at the Olympics. It was feared that this would continue for even longer with the participation of more teams. That is why cricket was excluded from the Olympic Games.

The number of cricket fans is over one billion. But it is still popular in a few countries. Most cricket fans are in the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Cricket in India is 'like a religion', but only 10 to 11 countries internationally have the status to play Test cricket.

Can cricket be part of the Olympics in the days to come? Before answering this question, it is important to know how the new sport is included in the Olympic Games.

How is the new sport included in the Olympics?

Earlier, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) used to decide before adding any new sport, but now the IOC has given the responsibility of adding any new sport to the Olympics to the host country's Olympic Organizing Committee.

This change follows the implementation of the 2020 Olympics agenda. The goal is to reach as many people as possible, especially young people. The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee proposed adding new sports to the Tokyo Olympics in 2015, and the IOC accepted the proposal in 2016.

However, there are certain conditions that the host country's governing body may consider including sports.

The first condition is that the host country must have adequate facilities to host the games. In addition, the host country should have a culture about the game. It is also clear that a sport that is included in an Olympics does not need to be included in the next Olympic Games.

Will cricket get a second chance?

The 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris and then in 2028 in Los Angeles. The problem is that both the United States and France do not play cricket. Cricket is not very popular in these two countries and in such a situation these countries also lack the basic facilities and stadiums required for cricket.

That is why the chances of these two countries including cricket in the Olympics are slim.

What could be the other way?

Another option would be for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take the initiative. For this, it will have to get the support of the boards of the cricketing countries.

They will have to raise funds among themselves and provide the money to the countries hosting the Olympics so that they can arrange cricket-related facilities.

The cricket board will have to ask its governments for money to increase this amount and this is not an easy way.

ICC effort

The International Cricket Council is working to include cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. This will first have to increase the popularity of cricket and the ICC has set up an Olympic committee for this purpose.

In October last year, the ICC asked member states how much funding they could get from their country's government if cricket was included in the Olympics. The ICC had sent a list of questions to its member cricket boards.

Although the ICC has made similar efforts in the past, it has not succeeded. The ICC believes that the inclusion of cricket in the Olympics will increase the popularity of cricket around the world. Most importantly, it will also increase the number of cricket viewers.

There are also reports that the ICC is considering a proposal in this direction. According to the proposal, "If cricket is included in the Olympic Games, it will provide an unprecedented opportunity for the Olympic movement to connect with its fans as there are a large number of cricket fans in the Indian subcontinent." '

According to the ICC, the subcontinent has the largest number of cricket fans.

According to the proposal, there are more than one billion cricket fans in the world. 92% of them are in the subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). In such a situation, the Los Angeles Olympics will also benefit from the popularity of cricket.

Is cricket one of the major sporting events?

The Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the Olympics are among the world's biggest sporting events. These events feature many sports competitions at the same time. These are very different from the World Cup of any sport.

Cricket was once included in the Commonwealth Games. Cricket was also included in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. The Indian team along with Ajay Jadeja, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman participated. But meanwhile another Indian team was playing a series in Pakistan.

However, the team did not perform well in both places. The star players were playing for India in Kuala Lumpur, but the Indian team lost its match in the quarter finals. At the same time, the team also lost the series in Pakistan. South Africa won the gold medal in cricket at the Commonwealth Games.

Cricket has never been played in the Commonwealth Games since then. However, the BCCI has agreed to send its women's cricket team to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

Which format of cricket would be best in the Olympics ?

There are currently three formats of cricket. Test, ODI and T20 cricket. Which of these formats would be best for the Olympics?

Sharad Kadrikar says that it is impossible to hold Test matches. It is also very difficult to include one-day cricket matches in such big sports competitions. Setting up the infrastructure over time is a challenge.

In such a situation, only the T20 format can make it to the Olympics. The ICC is working on this format. In recent days another format is becoming popular which is called The Hundred.

Matches are currently being played in England under this format. Its first tournament has just been played in England. The Hundred Format is a 100-ball match. It is 20 balls less per innings than T20.

The English Cricket Board has said that it has started this format to attract youngsters and others. The tournament featured men's and women's teams from eight cities in England. The rules of this tournament are also slightly different from the rules of cricket.

Most people think that this format of cricket will enable women to come to the level of men in cricket. During this tournament, the matches of female players got the same priority as the matches of male players. Women were given the same facilities as men and the amount of the award was the same for both.

Most people think that this format should not be included in the Olympics. Some senior cricketers have also objected to the need for a fourth with three formats.