NEW DELHI: Legendary Australia cricketer Ricky Ponting expressed his belief that the inclusion of cricket in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will expose the sport to a entirely new audience. He emphasized that this opportunity will significantly expand cricket’s reach and popularity.
The sport of cricket has been absent from the Olympic stage since its last appearance in 1900.However, after a long hiatus, cricket is set to make a triumphant return at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The LA28 Organising Committee proposed the inclusion of cricket along with four other sports: baseball-softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash.
In October last year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally approved cricket’s inclusion during the 141st IOC Session, which took place in Mumbai. This decision marks a significant milestone for the sport and its enthusiasts worldwide.
“It can only be a positive thing for our game. I’ve sat on various committees over the last 15 or 20 years and it’s always been on the top of almost every agenda – how do we get the game back into the Olympics? And finally, it’s there.”
“It’s only four years away. Once again, in the US by that stage, hopefully, with MLC (Major League Cricket), another four years down the track hopefully growing. Who knows, there might even be more teams in the MLC by then. I think it also gives cricket a chance to break into the grassroots level in the US.”
“But the thing about the Olympic Games, I mean, it’s not the host nation. It’s about the audience that it opens up. The Olympic Games being viewed by so many people all around the world, it just opens up completely different audiences to our game that’s seemingly growing on a daily basis anyway. It can only be a real positive thing for the game,” said Ponting in the latest episode of The ICC Review show, as quoted by IANS.
Ponting, a three-time ODI World Cup winner, recently coached the Washington Freedom to this year’s Major League Cricket title, giving him valuable insight into how cricket is perceived in the USA.
“Facilities and infrastructure and those things are going to be key and how many teams they actually decide on. I think it’s only six or seven teams that they’re talking about.”
“So qualification is going to be at a premium, how you actually qualify to get into the Olympic Games. So all those things to think about, I’m really excited about where the game’s headed and the growth of different markets that we’re seeing emerge,” he added on the state of MLC.
Ponting also pointed out how cricket can tap into baseball’s fanbase to draw attention and increase its popularity. “And the way that I sort of try and compare the two is we’ve all been to games of Major League Baseball. Huge events, the bat and ball game that Americans are growing up with and that game goes for four hours and through the history of the game, there’s less than one home run scored in every game.”
“So when you compare baseball to what the excitement and entertainment package that T20 cricket brings, then it should be a reasonably easy sell to the young kids in the US. So that’d be the angle that I’d be certainly pushing is just the excitement factor that comes with the game. And I think if they do that, then I think it’s very sustainable.”
“There’s huge opportunities for growth, even with the Indian investment in MLC and how keen they are to stay involved and make it big and turn Washington Freedom into a household name in world cricket. Then I think there are some great opportunities there.”
Ponting concluded by expressing his excitement about the possibility of serving as either a mentor or coach for the Australian team at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “It’d be a pretty nice job, I reckon, to be a mentor around a cricket team in the Olympic Games, to hang out. I was lucky enough to play in the Commonwealth Games and just to be around the athletes in the villages and stuff was quite a surreal environment to be in for a cricketer.”
“So, look, I wouldn’t say no, but I think there’ll be a lot of people putting their hands up to try and be a mentor or a coach for an Aussie team in the Olympic Games. It’d be special to be a part of, so who knows? We’ll keep my fingers crossed and see what happens.”
Source link : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/paris-olympics-2024/having-cricket-in-olympics-opens-up-completely-different-audience-says-ricky-ponting/articleshow/112445468.cms
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Publish date : 2024-08-11 14:21:10
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