Cricket to make Asian Games return at Hangzhou 2022

MUMBAI: Cricket will return to the next Asian Games at Hangzhou 2022 after the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) added it to its sports programme for the next edition of the continental event.

Cricket has struggled to grow beyond its traditional bases and was last played at the Olympics in the 1900 Paris Games. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been pushing for the game’s Olympic return with the shortest 20-over format and hopes it will find a place at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

The Asian Games remains the largest multi-sports event that features cricket and Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014 included both men’s and women’s competitions.

Cricket was, however dropped for the Games in Jakarta-palembang last year but was added back for Hangzhou at the OCA general assembly in Bangkok, where Shaikh Ahmad al Fahad al Sabah was re-elected president of the OCA unopposed for an eighth term.

“Cricket will return at Hangzhou,” OCA honorary life vice-president Randhir Singh said. Cricket made its maiden appearance in the Commonwealth Games in 1998 when the South African men’s team won the gold medal in Kuala Lumpur but has not featured in the quadrennial competition since then.

The ICC has submitted a bid for the inclusion of women’s Twenty20 in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Singh, who has been appointed as the chairman of the coordination committee for the Asian Games, said he visited Hangzhou last month to see venue options to host cricket.