Vancouver, Feb 12 (Inditop.com) The inclusion of Cricket in Olympics could now become a reality after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted official recognition to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The IOC, at its meeting here Thursday, decided to recognise the federations of cricket, sport climbing and power boating.
“They are recognised federations by us, which now means that they can take part in IOC events,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters.
Adams added that it could be seen as a first step towards becoming an Olympic sports.
The three sports can now bid for the 2020 Olympics.
Cricket was given the provisional status of “recognition” as an Olympic sport in 2007, for a term of two years, as a sports not in the Olympic programme but which conform to criteria such as universality.
Cricket’s Twenty20 format is set to feature at this year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, and has been in the Commonwealth Games as recently as 1998.
ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat has welcomed the move and termed it as the first step towards cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics.