The official program for LA28 Olympics was released on Wednesday (April 9) and Cricket was one of the inclusions that was confirmed. However, there is no clarity on the qualification criteria yet. If USA, being the home team, gets direct qualification, it would leave top teams fighting out for fewer spots.
In its proposal to include Cricket in LA28, the ICC had suggested that six teams could be shortlisted based on the T20I rankings at a specific cut-off date. But nothing is finalised yet and the final call is expected to be made this year. Kit McConnell, the IOC's sports director, stated in October 2023 that the home team generally qualifies directly in team sports.
"Normally, the host country is one of the teams in the team sports, and then we look at a balance of global strength and regional representation, and try and find that balance within the available quota as well," he had said. There is also a question of who will represent the West Indies as islands in the Caribbean participate as separate countries at the Olympic Games and even the Commonwealth Games.
At the Birmingham CWG in 2022, Barbados took part in Women's T20 cricket as they were the champions of West Indies' regional competition at the time - the Twenty20 Blaze.
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