There will be six-team events in both the men’s and women’s divisions for T20 cricket, one of five new sports at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The official program, which was issued on Wednesday, will allocate 90 athlete quotas for each category, and the teams will be required to designate 15-member lineups.
The requirements for Olympic qualification are still unclear.
There would be fewer qualifying spots available if the USA, the home team, received direct qualification. Since the Caribbean islands compete as independent nations at the Olympic Games, much as they do at the Commonwealth Games, there is also the issue of who will represent the West Indies. For instance, Barbados participated in Birmingham 2022 when women’s T20 cricket was included. Barbados was chosen as the winner of the Twenty20 Blaze, the West Indies’ regional competition at the time, and the West Indies were straight qualifiers.
The International Olympic Committee’s members approved the request to add cricket to the Olympic Games in October 2023 in Mumbai, confirming the sport’s return to the Games following a brief presence in Paris in 1900.
It has already been announced that all team sports at LA28 will be six-team competitions in both the men’s and women’s divisions. According to the T20I rankings at a deadline, the ICC had recommended in its submission to LA28 that the six sides be shortlisted. Although it hasn’t been made yet, the final qualification decision is anticipated this year.
In October 2023, IOC sports director Kit McConnell stated, “Normally, the host country is one of the teams in the team sports, and then we look at a balance of global strength and regional representation, and try and find that balance within the available quota as well.” This statement relates to the United States of America, which is not yet an ICC Full Member.
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