T20 World Cup, MLC Played Pivotal Role In Cricket's Inclusion In Olympics: LA Sports Director

The US and West Indies jointly hosting the next T20 World Cup along with the success of the first edition of Major League Cricket (MLC) played a pivotal role in cricket's inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, said Niccolo Campriani, LA28 Sports Director on Monday. Cricket (men's and women's T20Is) returned to the Olympic Games after a long gap of 123 years since its maiden appearance in 1900, with lacrosse (sixes), baseball/softball, flag football and squash being approved as the additional sports for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. The voting in favour of these games took place on Monday during the second day's proceedings of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) 141st Session.

"It's a game-change for the Olympic movement. It's a win-win-win scenario not only for the IOC and the cricket community but also for LA 28," Campriani, a former Olympic champion shooter for Italy told the media.

"The idea was to create a perfect combination of American sport to be showcased to the world, but also introducing global sports that are not as developed in the US market," he said.

"The stars have aligned, with the Major League Cricket that started this year as well as the T20 World Cup coming in 2024. It's going to be interesting to see what are the venues available, after the legacy of the T20 World Cup," Campriani said.

Campriani said the venues for the T20 World Cup next year, starting June 4, could be used for the LA Games as the idea is to not build new venues for the Olympic Games.

"We're still committed to not building a new permanent venue for the Games. We want to leverage on that legacy. I was lucky enough to do my observation at the CWG last year. We're really excited. This decision is specific for LA 28, but you have Brisbane 2032 around the corner," said Campriani, hoping to see cricket in the 2032 Games as well.

Campriani said for cricket, its presence in the Commonwealth Games (women's competition) went a long way in the inclusion of the sport.

"What we did is for every sport, we had one formal submission from the international federation and one observation — which for cricket was at the CWG," he said.

"The observation from the CWG was just amazing. We all loved it. We got a glimpse of what cricket can be in the LA context. We were not planning to fly for an IPL game, so that observation was absolutely critical. So yes, women's cricket played a critical role." Campriani hoped that cricket would spark interest in the young audience who could be watching the sport for the first time.

"Whenever we talk about this partnership, we have to keep in mind that our key stakeholders are the international federations. But these professional leagues, unique platform to engage with a whole new community of athletes," he said.

"As an athlete, it's going to be life-changing. I don't know how many young athletes, at this exact moment, might be playing cricket who can now chase an Olympic dream," he added.

There has been talks of trying to get shooting as sport out from the Olympic schedule after the 2028 Games but Campriani, a three-time Olympic champion, said that both target shooting and shotgun will be there in Paris 2024 but the number of medal events for LA Games is yet to be confirmed.

"No, that is to be confirmed," said Campriani when asked if the medal events would be the same as Paris 2024.

"So you have the sport shooting, the disciplines of target and shotgun, and then you have the 10m men's air rifle. So the 10m men's air rifle and how many shooters will be in each event will be finalised then.

"This applies also to the new sports, meaning number of teams, the competition format — everything will be after Paris 2024," he said.

There have been murmurs in the shooting circles that owing to strict gun control laws being implemented in many countries, combined with the harmful effects of lead used in pellets and live cartridges, the sport may not feature in the future editions.

Talking about the LA 2028 spots programme, Campriani said the idea was to put a best combination of sports.

"The idea was to come together with one milestone, with all the disciplines — the existing ones and the new proposed ones by international federation, as well as the new proposed sports and pending sports — all coming together at the same meeting, to put together the best combination for the programme," he said.

"The only change in terms of the discipline programme is the inclusion of coastal rowing. With regards to shooting, both target shooting and shotguns have been confirmed. Same disciplines and medal events.

"The exact combinations as well as athlete quotas will be confirmed at the time of event programme decision, which is after Paris 2024," he added.