International Olympic Committee approves cricket and four other sports for 2028 Games in Los Angeles

Well, we start, though, with the Olympics, and for the first time since 1900, cricket is back in the games after the International Olympic Committee voted to include the sport in 2028. Flag football, squash, lacrosse, baseball and softball have also been confirmed for Los Angeles. Let's speak now live to our senior reporter Geraint Hughes. Afternoon to you, Geraint. Let's start with cricket, and particularly the composition of the tournament is interesting to me. Just take us through the details that you have on that. Yeah, the worst kept secret that cricket was going to be back in the Olympics. We were discussing this over a week ago. We knew it was going to get proposed. We knew it was going to get recommended by the IOC's executive board. But this morning, finally, the vote goes through in cricket, back in the Olympics, the first time in 128 years. How is it going to be played? It's T20. It's the T20 format that has been so successful domestically, but also internationally as well. That's the format that the Olympic movement wants. It's engaging. It brings in younger new audiences as well. That's very much the mantra of the Los Angeles organizers as well. Now, the finer details are yet to be confirmed. However, I think we do understand it's going to be a six-team tournament for both the men's and the women's competition. As far as Team GB are concerned, because that is how all the nations in the United Kingdom that they compete under, England and Wales, obviously covered by the auspices of the ECB, Cricket Scotland, and then obviously Northern Ireland, only one team can play. That is Team GB. I'd imagine it'll be a very similar situation what happens with football. For example, the women's football is trying to qualify for the Paris Olympics next year. That's been the Football Association of England that is the nominated association. So it could well be that it'll be the ECB, England and Wales, who are the nominated association as they're the most highly ranked. But six teams for men's and women's, certainly when it comes to the men's competition, you're going to have some serious nations that are missing out there. We don't need to go through everyone who plays cricket, but Cricket could do it. You've got England, clearly Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies who could, again, it's the number of islands there in the Caribbean, they may compete individually or otherwise. There are more than six decent nations that play cricket. So exactly how you qualify needs to be confirmed by the IOC as well, because it is going to be a six-team tournament. Remember, the Olympics only lasts, well, comparatively short compared with, say, the Cricket World Cup that's going on at the moment. It's a 17-day competition normally, as well. So they've made it clear, just checking in with them, that some of the I's and the crossing of the T's have still got to be nailed down. But men's and women's six-team tournament T20 for those Olympics at Los Angeles of 2028. New Zealand will not be happy that you've forgotten about them in that little list there, Geraint. But let's talk about some of the other sports, shall we? Squash has been fighting to get into the Games for quite some time. But a few other sports that people might not be too familiar with? I don't want to offend anyone in the island of Ireland either, because they're not bad at T20 as well. Lots of teams. It's going to be, yeah, I think the qualification of the cricket. But coming to the other sports as well, there are four others. And it's really interesting when you were linking towards me there, you mentioned new sports and returning sports, because some of these sports have been in the Olympic programme before. Cricket in 1900, admittedly, it wasn't a huge tournament. It was only two teams. It was England and France. And when I read up on it, most of the team representing France, they weren't French. And it was 158 win for England. And I don't think they got a gold medal. I think only silver and bronzes were handed out. Such was the Olympic Games back in 1900. It will be different in Los Angeles, of course. So that comes back in. I think the real big news line is squash in the Olympics for the first time. They have been trying to knock at the door of the IOC for years, trying to get into the Olympic Games. I think it's been described by the world governing body as a transformational moment for the game. It's certainly a huge, huge moment. And the reason why squash works for the Olympics, it's men's, it's women's, it's doubles, it's mixed as well. It's adapted on their World Series events as well. So squash has felt it's been very, very unlucky for several attempts to get into the Olympics, not to get in there. So for it to get in for Los Angeles, I think it's going to be huge celebrations for the game of squash. You mentioned baseball, softball. Just to confirm the difference there, not a huge difference, is actually baseball is what is played by the male athletes and softball by the female athletes. But baseball was at the last games in Tokyo. It's not in for Paris, the next Olympics, but it's back for 2028 in Los Angeles. You don't really have to guess why. It's a huge sport in America, the U.S. market. That's why the organizers of Los Angeles want that in there, as they do for flag football as well. That is essentially non-contact NFL. That comes in for the first times and then lacrosse sixes as well. I'm reliably told that's a very high-paced game that will go well with a new emerging market as well. Again, that's what the organizers of Los Angeles want. So those are the reasons for these five new and returning sports coming into Los Angeles 2028. Gerard, thank you very much.