Cricket is one of five new sports to feature at the upcoming Olympics.
Cricket at LA 2028 Olympics Set to Begin on July 12, Medal Matches on July 20 and 29
Cricket’s highly anticipated return to the Olympics at LA 2028 will play out starting July 12, with the 20th and 29th of the same month earmarked for the medal matches.
The organisers released the competition schedule for the LA 2028 Olympic Games on Monday.
Cricket’s only appearance at the Olympics to date was at Paris 1900 with only two teams - one from Great Britain and one from France - competing in a one-off two-day match - now recognised as an unofficial Test. Great Britain bagged the gold medal.
At LA 2028, cricket will return in a much more modern avatar with separate T20 format tournaments for men and women - each with its own set of medals - gold, silver and bronze.
There are no cricket matches scheduled on July 14 and 21 at LA28. Most of the matchdays will be double headers, with the games starting from 9:00 AM and 6:30 PM as per local Los Angeles time. It’s the same for the medal matches.
Converted to Indian Standard Time, the first match will start from 9:30 PM while the second game will start from 7:00 AM the following day.
Earlier, it was confirmed that six teams will be competing in each of the men’s and women’s tournaments. A total of 90 athlete quotas have been allocated for each gender, allowing every team to name a 15-member squad.
All cricket matches at the LA 2028 Olympics will be held in a temporary, purpose-built venue at the Fairgrounds in Pomona - a city located about 50 kilometres from Los Angeles.
Officially known as Fairplex, the nearly 500-acre complex has hosted the Los Angeles County Fair since 1922 and regularly serves as a venue for concerts, trade shows, sporting events, and cultural gatherings.
Cricket’s inclusion at LA28 follows a growing trend of the sport making an appearance at different multi-sport events.
A men’s cricket tournament was held at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, while the women’s game made its CWG debut at Birmingham 2022. Both men’s and women’s cricket tournaments, played in the popular T20 format, were part of the Asian Games in 2010, 2014 and 2023.
Cricket is one of five new sports to feature at the upcoming Olympics. The IOC approved cricket’s inclusion for LA28 two years ago, along with baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash.
Alongside cricket, squash will be another new Olympic sport which is expected to have heavy Indian interest at LA 2028.
The LA28 squash events will be held at the Universal City Squash Center in Los Angeles from July 15, with medal matches scheduled for the 23rd and 24th.
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