Huge boost to Team SA’s medal chances at LA28 Olympics

Cricket’s return to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028 will be as a six-team T20 tournament for both genders, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced.

That means exactly half the teams competing in both the men’s and women’s competitions will win a medal.

That suggests that South Africa would have a double chance at a medal.

A look at the latest ICC rankings shows that the Proteas are ranked sixth, while the Proteas women’s side are fifth.

Costly exercise

While sending a combined 30 cricketers – excluding management teams – to LA28 is a costly exercise, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie is on record as saying he’d like to see Team SA send a bigger contingent to Los Angeles in a little over three years from now.

Participating teams will be able to field squads of up to 15 players after the IOC allocated quotas of 90 athletes per gender for the event.

The IOC has yet to reveal how teams will qualify for LA 2028, but it is understood organisers are keen to utilise cricket as a way to increase India’s interest in the Olympics.

India, who are the current T20 World Cup holders, were a draw for fans at the 2024 World Cup which the United States co-hosted and represent a commercial opportunity for the IOC with sponsors.

Before she was elected, IOC president Kirsty Coventry met with International Cricket Council chairman Jay Shah in Dubai at the recent Champions Trophy where LA 2028 was discussed.

Cricket’s only previous appearance at the Olympics was at Paris 1900, when Great Britain won by 158 runs against France in a one-off final, after the Netherlands and Belgium withdrew.

The England and Wales Cricket Board is understood to have held preliminary talks with Cricket Scotland about plans to field a Team GB.

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