SA Footy

Australia's own Adam Gilchrist in on a crusade it seems -

BRING CRICKET TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Adam Gilchrist is leading a player push for Twenty20 to be included in the 2020 Olympics, believing it is an essential step in securing the game's global future. With the start of the Beijing event less than a week away, Gilchrist says the cricket "pipedream" is a "potential reality" following the success of the new format and the Indian Premier League.

"It doesn't matter where the 2020 Olympic Games are held, but many of us who've experienced international Twenty20 cricket and the IPL are convinced that cricket should bid to become an Olympic sport in time for the Games," Gilchrist wrote in the Deccan Chronicle. Cricket was part of the 1900 Olympics before being cut, but last year it gained "recognition status" from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for two years.
(Start of the following article from cricinfo)

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/cont ... 63590.html

Gilly's got a few friends to join him in his push for cricket at the Olympics
- Steve Waugh
- Stephen Fleming
- Sourav Ganguly
- VVS Laxman
- Yuvraj Singh

Not KG though, which will make it hard!

For cricket to be included in 2020 it would need to be approved by the International Olympic Committee in 2013. The game received Olympic "recognition status" last year, but it faces a battle with other sports, such as golf, karate and baseball, to become part of the programme.

Perhaps this is the place for teeball. You could sell to dumba55 Yanks and uncomprehending Chinese and perhaps this could make the great game grow when the newbies realise that it's just toy cricket they've been playing and if you want to be the world's best you'll have to actually learn to build an innings and the 'whippists' aren't merely there for decoration.

regards,

REB

with too much inconsequential cricket going on, I see this as a complete waste of time.

Get rid of tennis and put netball in there just to finalise things.

Cricket will be a part of the 2010 Asian Games

Cricket has become an Asian Games sport after it was approved by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on Wednesday. It will make its debut in Guangzhou in 2010 with India and Pakistan pledging to send their best available teams.
The format of the game will be Twenty20, with both men's and women's competitions. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will qualify automatically, along with host nation China. Other countries will have to play a qualifying round to fill three additional spots.
"India and Pakistan were the drivers," OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah said. "Pakistan and India will come with their best teams because it will be a big competition. Asia's four Test-playing nations have committed to sending their best available teams."
The 2010 Asian Games will take place between November 12 and 27 in Guangzhou. Cricket was last played at a major multi-sport event in 1998 during the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur

http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/ ... 04176.html

The idea is back and from someone with a bit more clout than Gilly...

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, is keen to see cricket becoming an Olympic sport in the future. Speaking to the London Evening Standard, Rogge also indicated that if cricket were to feature in the Olympic games, it would have to be through its shorter versions.

"The ICC will decide at the end of June whether they will make an application [for making cricket an Olympic sport]," Rogge said. "We would welcome an application. It's an important, popular sport and very powerful on television. It's a sport with a great tradition where mostly you have a respect of the ethics. In the Olympics, it will not be Test cricket, of course."