• Cricket will feature six teams battling for top honours when the sport returns to the Olympics at the 2028 Los Angeles Games after a gap of 128 years.

• The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved  the event program and athlete quotas for the LA Games, adding 22 more medal events as compared to Paris 2024.

• The IOC approved a record 351 medal events for the LA28 program and the athlete quota remains at 10,500, with an extra 698 quota places allocated for the five additional sports — baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash.

• Out of 351 events, there are 161 women’s events, 165 men’s events and 25 mixed events.

• For the first time in history, all team sports will have at least the same number of women's teams as men’s.

• Among other sports, boxing will achieve full gender parity with the addition of a seventh women’s weight category, same as the men’s. 

• Football, with 16 female teams, will feature more women’s teams than men’s (12).

Return of cricket in Olympics

• Cricket has more than 2.5 billion fans worldwide and represents an invaluable opportunity to engage with new countries and communities, including the growing Indian community in the US. 

• Cricket last featured at the Olympics in the 1900 edition of the Games in Paris, where a one-off, two-day match between Great Britain and France was held, which is now recognised as an unofficial Test.

• At LA28, cricket will be played in the T20 format, with six teams competing in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) consists of 12 full members in Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

• Qualification criteria for the 2028 Games are yet to be confirmed for the cricket tournament but USA are likely to earn a direct spot at the quadrennial extravaganza as host nation, meaning only five teams will be allowed to make the cut through the qualification process. 

• It is expected that top five teams in the ICC rankings within a certain cut-off date will qualify apart from the United States of America.

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