"Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma would want to have Olympic medal": Former cricketer Atul Wassan

NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricketer Atul Wassan talked about how the T20 format presents an opportunity for teams to compete against strong cricketing nations in the Olympics and said that players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma would like to have an Olympic medal in their trophy cabinet.

In the recently concluded 19th Asian Games, India sent a relatively inexperienced team that claimed the gold medal.

In light of the performances of teams like Afghanistan and Netherlands in the T20 format, Wassan feels that with five years to go before the 2028 Olympics, teams will have a chance to develop and compete in the T20 format.

"There are five years for the 2028 Olympics. I feel that teams will develop and they will give good competition and if India wants the medal, they will need to send their main team. Big cricketers can win the World Cup but if a big player gets an opportunity to claim an Olympic medal they will definitely work towards it like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will want to have an Olympic medal," Wassan told ANI.

"The format of T20 has become so popular and because of that, you can organize a tournament quickly with more teams. If you look at T20 there are teams like Afghanistan, Netherlands... they can compete with top teams in the T20 format," Wassan added.

The 2028 event will also include sports like baseball/softball, lacrosse, squash and flag football. The proposal from the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 to include these games in the programme was accepted at the 141st IOC session being held in Mumbai. Cricket made its sole appearance at the 1900 Paris Olympics in which Great Britain defeated France in the final. But it is now being played in Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

"The proposal from the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 (@LA28) to include five new sports in the programme has been accepted by the IOC Session. Baseball/softball, cricket (T20), flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash will be in the programme at LA28. #IOCMumbai2023," IOC Media posted on 'X'.

The IOC session in Mumbai was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. The session serves as a key meeting of the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Important decisions regarding the future of the Olympic games are made at the IOC Sessions. India is hosting the IOC session for the second time after a gap of about 40 years. The IOC's 86th session was held in New Delhi in 1983.