As part of the 141st Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Mumbai, Baseball/softball, cricket (T20), flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash have been officially added in the roster of events for the Los Angeles Olympics 2028.
Niccolo Campriani, director of LA Local Organising Committee, acknowledged Virat Kohli’s popularity as a driving force behind cricket’s inclusion. Campriani, himself a three time Olympic gold medallist in shooting for Italy, noted, “He’s the third-most followed athlete in the world on social media with 314 million followers. That’s more than LeBron James, Tom Brady and Tiger Woods combined. This is the ultimate win-win for LA 28.”
Out of these five, baseball/softball, cricket and lacrosse have already been a part of Summer Olympics before, while flag football and squash will be making their Olympic debut in LA.
KnowALLedge Plus:
>During the inauguration of the Mumbai session of the IOC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to organise the 2036 Olympics.”
>The only time cricket was played in the Summer Olympics in 1900 Paris, Great Britain (comprising the Devon and Somerset Wanderers Club) had clinched the gold medal by defeating France (consisting of staffers from the British embassy in Paris) in a one-match showdown. Lacrosse was included at St. Louis 1904 and London 1908. Baseball and softball have shown up in multiple Olympics, most recently in 2021 for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
>Squash officials have been lobbying for decades for its inclusion in the Olympics. The World Squash Federation had launched Back the Bid 2020 to tap into the huge support players, fans and corporate organisations are showing towards Squash’s campaign to get the sport into the Olympic Games. They even roped in tennis Roger Federer who pledged his support towards the bid.