Los Angeles Olympics 2028: Cricket to begin on July 12, medal matches on July 20 and 29
A total of six teams each in men's and women's sections and 180 players will compete in the T20 format in the quadrennial showpiece, which hosted cricket for the first and only time in 1900.
There are no matches scheduled on July 14 and 21 and most of the the matchdays will be double headers, according to the competition schedule released by the organisers.
The only time the gentleman's game was played at the Olympics was in Paris way back in 1900. Only two teams, Great Britain and France, competed in a two-day match with the former winning the gold medal.
With a total of 90 athlete quotas allocated in the men's and women's sections, the 12 competing teams can name 15-member squads.
Cricket's growing popularity can be gauged from the fact that three venues in the United States — Grand Prairie, Lauderhill, and New York — organised several matches of the 2024 T20 World Cup, jointly hosted by USA and the West Indies.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had approved cricket, baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash as five new sports to feature at the 2028 Games.
"When the world comes here for these Games, we will highlight every neighbourhood as we host a Games for all and work to ensure it leaves a monumental legacy.
"We are already delivering that legacy as we announce there have been more than one million enrollments in PlayLA. I want to thank LA28 and the International Olympic Committee for making these programs possible and for their continued work to host the greatest Games yet," said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a statement.
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Indian Express
38 minutes ago
- Indian Express
LA 2028 Olympics: Could teams like Pakistan, New Zealand miss out on a spot? ECB chair provides a hint
Cricket is set to return to the Olympic Games for the first time since 1900 in three years time at Los Angeles and there is already quite a lot of discussion around which teams will feature. For now, the schedule for the sport is confirmed as well as venue, but the qualification pathways are yet to be announced. Speaking to BBC Test Match Special, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chair Richard Thompson gave a hint of how things are likely to pan out, and it is likely to leave a few of the top cricket-playing nations unhappy – potentially, Pakistan and New Zealand, according to a report in The Guardian. The idea is centered around having continental representation across the six teams – five teams from five continents. From Europe, the decision would be straightforward. As seen in hockey, a Team GB is all but a certainty. 'We are there by invitation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and you abide by their rules,' Thompson told BBC Test Match Special. 'It is still being finalised but the IOC's preference is to work to the five-ring principle, with teams from each of the continents – so Europe would be between Ireland and Great Britain. We would unite with Scotland and create Team GB. It would throw up the opportunity, if you took the principle that USA would play as the host country, and that would free up one additional slot for every other full country to have a play-off match to enable one of them to qualify.' According to an ESPNCricinfo report, the ICC will soon approve the continental qualification system. 'While the ICC's initial thinking was that it would shortlist the top six-ranked teams at a pre-determined cut-off date, several Full Member countries believed such an approach wouldn't allow for a wider representation of countries from across the globe,' the report stated. If USA does get their spot in the men's competition, that would mean a Caribbean nation, Asian powerhouses like Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and New Zealand (as part of Oceania from where Australia would make the cut) would all be competing for just one more spot. In April this year, the ICC had made an official press communication welcoming cricket's return to the Summer Games, which had only confirmed the venue and number of teams. 'ICC has welcomed the announcement of Fairgrounds in Pomona, Southern California, as the venue for cricket at the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 (LA28). The cricket competition at LA28 will feature six teams each in the men's and women's competition as the sport makes a return to the Games after 128 years.' Cricket, which made its only appearance in the Olympics at the Paris Games in 1900, was included in the Los Angeles Olympics after an IOC meeting in Mumbai in October 2023. It joined five new sports at LA28 – baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash. One compound archery event was also added later on. The T20 format has also featured in other multi-sport events in recent years. The Asian Games in 2010, 2014 and 2023 featured both men's and women's T20 competitions while the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games staged a women's competition.
The Hindu
38 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Record-breaking Summer McIntosh on path to emulate Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky
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'I'm trying to see if I can do five events individually and how well I can do in them and how I can manage it... doing that run through now, three years out, is definitely something that will give me lots of confidence,' she said ahead of the Worlds' swimming portion, which began on July 27. McIntosh arrived in Singapore after completing one of the greatest weeks in swimming history with a hat-trick of world records in June, becoming the first to set three different individual long-course records in one meet since Phelps in 2008. At the Canadian trials, she broke the world marks in the 200m and 400m individual medleys (IM), as well as the 400m freestyle. ALSO READ | Divya, the girl who could become chess queen Despite owning the 400 free world record, McIntosh had failed to win gold in the event at the Olympics or previous Worlds. She remedied that in ominous fashion, launching her packed programme with a statement win. 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McIntosh famously ended Ledecky's 13-year unbeaten streak in the event in 2024, when she bested the American by nearly six seconds at a sectionals meeting in Orlando, Florida. What's more, the rivalry doesn't faze her. 'Katie always brings the best out of me,' McIntosh said. 'Which is why I'm never nervous to race her.' Ledecky, who won the 1500m freestyle gold in Singapore on Tuesday, is aware of the contender's prowess, but has been mentally preparing to meet an equal for years. 'I've always approached each race with a mindset that something like that could happen,' Ledecky once said. 'Even as that didn't happen for many, many years, I still maintain that approach.' Irrespective of how the race goes, what is certain is that McIntosh will look at it as another learning opportunity. It's this desire to constantly improve, a trait common to great athletes, that has lifted her to soaring heights in a short career. She is never satisfied. ALSO READ | Nikhat Zareen reiterates 'hunger to win medals' ahead of World Boxing Championships After winning three gold medals at the Paris Olympics, McIntosh felt there was room for growth. Her attitude after breaking three world records in June was similar. 'Absolutely wild,' she said of the accomplishment, before promptly pointing to a litany of things she could improve on in each race, saying the self-criticism is part of her mission to keep testing the boundaries of her sport. 'I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect race, at least I haven't done it yet,' she said. 'I always want more. And I'm also still so young, I know I can get so much stronger.' That competitive spirit runs deep in the McIntosh family. Her mother Jill competed at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in swimming and older sister Brooke is a top pairs figure skater. 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Yu is recording faster times than McIntosh did as a 12-year-old, but the Canadian looks at it as further motivation. 'World records are made to be broken. So by the time I leave this sport, I want to make sure that [my] records are as fast as possible,' she said. 'I know there's always going to be the next generation of kids growing up, and they're going to be chasing the record. So I've got to give them my best effort to see how long it can stand.'
Indian Express
an hour ago
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Macau Open Super 300: Satwik-Chirag go down to Malaysians again; Tharun, Lakshya come through 3-game battles to reach semis
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