MUMBAI (Reuters) – Five sports, including cricket and flag football, proposed for inclusion at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics were approved by the International Olympic Committee executive board on Friday, leaving them with one last hurdle to seal their Olympic spots.
Organisers of the LA 2028 Games said this week they wanted cricket, flag football, lacrosse, squash and baseball-softball added to the event.
Each host city, under IOC rules approved a few years ago, can request the inclusion of several sports for their edition of the Games.
“These proposals have been accepted as a package by they IOC Executive Board,” IOC President Thomas Bach told a press conference at the end of the executive board meeting.
The IOC session, starting on Sunday, will now have to rubberstamp the board’s recommendation.
Cricket, which enjoys a massive appeal in India and a quickly growing global audience, is set for an Olympic return after appearing once at the 1900 Games.
While all five sports’ inclusion is only for one edition of the Games, they are banking on the boost provided by Olympic participation to spur growth as they look to remain an attractive Olympic product going into the next four-year cycle.
Flag football is a non-contact format of American football played by teams of five.
Baseball was featured in several previous Games. It was added to the 2020 Tokyo program after being left off in 2012 and 2016, but it will not be a part of the Paris Games.
Softball, the female counterpart to baseball, has appeared at five previous editions of the Summer Games and was also left off the Paris agenda.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Toby Davis)
