Cricket will reportedly be a part of the 2026 Asian Games next year, that will be hosted by Japan. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Aichi-Nagoya Games organizing committee (AINAGOC) will formally announce this during their meetings this week. The 20th Asian Games will take place from September 19 to October 4 in the following year.
"The OCA Board will still need to approve it. Although we think that is just a formality. But until they do, it is not 100 percent,” Japan Cricket Association (JCA) official told Cricbuzz.
An OCA statement said, "The meeting will run from Wednesday, April 30 to Friday, May 2, with the 3rd OCA Coordination Committee Meeting taking place over two days on May 1-2."
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Aichi-Nagoya Games organising committee (AINAGOC) will meet this week to provide formal confirmation. The 20th Asian Games will take place next year, from September 19 to October 4.
Cricket will be one of 41 sports featured at the Games, with 15,000 participants and officials representing the OCA's 45 National Olympic Committees. The Indian men's and women's teams are the reigning gold medalists, having won yellow medals at the 2022 Asian Games, which will be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 19–October 7, 2023. The Games, you may recall, had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The latest development in the compilation of the sports programme came at the 41st meeting of the AINAGOC Board of Directors at Nagoya City Hall on Monday, April 28, when cricket and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) were both formally approved,” the OCA statement read.
Cricket will be played in the same T20 format as before. The actual number of participating teams will be determined during this week's sessions. The Hangzhou Games featured 14 male and nine female teams.
The main question about the games is the venue and if the organizers will use a modular stadium, like the ICC did for the New York Games of last year's Twenty20 World Cup. The JCA official stated that this would be decided during the sessions.
"The venue for cricket will be in Aichi prefecture, but the exact location has not been decided. Interest will be high, not only because of cricket's popularity in South Asia in particular but also because the T20 (20 overs per side) format will be included in the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. This will be cricket's first appearance in the Olympics since 1900 in Paris, where Great Britain beat France by 158 runs in the final of the two-team tournament," the OCA statement says.
(Cricbuzz report)
