Cricket in Olympic a possibility

NEW DELHI: Cricket in Olympics could be a reality with the International Cricket Council (ICC) seeking membership of the International Olympic Council (IOC) to include the Twenty20 format of the game in the biggest sporting extravaganza on earth.

ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed said the abridged format is best suited for the Olympics considering the nature of the Games and ICC was in the process of getting IOC membership.
   
"For cricket to be in the Olympics, Twenty20 is the ideal format because we can play the tournament in two weeks which is also the duration of the Olympics.

"The ICC is in the process of seeking membership of the IOC which will be completed by this year and the long-term objective is to have cricket in Olympics," Speed said here on Wednesday.

"It has been part of the Commonwealth Games," he added.

Speed was referring to the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur where India had fielded a second-string squad.

Organisers of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi also wanted to make cricket part of the event but BCCI did not seem enthused by the idea.