The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham will become the first major multi-sport event to have a majority of women's medal competitions. Three sports — women's T20 cricket, beach volleyball and para table tennis — were added to the programme on Tuesday.
This addition of women's T20 cricket means that there will be 135 women's medal events this time around, compared to 133 for men. And this certainly has not happened in the history of any previous Olympic or Commonwealth Games. In all, eight teams will compete at Birmingham's Edgbaston Cricket Ground.
The landmark decision for women's sport has been formally accepted by the 71 Commonwealth Games Associations after a joint bid of International Cricket Council (ICC) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
The 2022 CWG will mark the return of cricket into the fold, since Kuala Lumpur in 1998 where South Africa defeated Australia in the final to win men's 50-over tournament.
However, this time around the women's competition will see a T20 contest.
The inclusion of women's cricket has come as a shot in the arm for the ICC which is pushing for cricket's inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. This is another matter that Indian cricket board BCCI may not be too pleased with this latest development because of the pressure they are facing to come under the ambit of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
The ICC is a fully World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) compliant federation.
And that's the condition International Olympic Council (IOC) has put before ICC to ensure that all member countries are WADA-compliant, apart from ensuring that top teams and top players will participate in the Games.
And not to go into details, this is well-known fact that ICC cannot provide that assurance without BCCI's support.
The Commonwealth Games Federation, following a joint bid by the ICC and the ECB, has announced that women's T20 Cricket has been confirmed for inclusion at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The ICC will be responsible for conducting the matches in CWG by way of providing match officials and ensuring matches are played as per the laws of the game.
Overall, the 135 medal events for women in Birmingham mean that there will be around 4,500 athletes competing across 18 sports.
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