Cricket and Squash in Olympics, rare opportunity for India

Virat Kohli has begun to live up to his reputation as one of the world’s best batter in cricket. The two performances thus far, for instance in the ongoing World Cup, saw him not just at his attacking best but a player who singlehandedly could decide a match in his team’s favour. First, it was the century with a sixer, which was also the match-winning shot against Bangladesh. Then his 95, sadly he missed a ton, against the seemingly well-set New Zealand made the difference between the two sides as he set the winning path. This was also India’s first win against New Zealand in an ICC event in 20 years. Great performances that had the cricket lovers, not just in India, go delirious and all this could not have come at a better time. Aside from helping India continue with its unbeaten run in this field of 10 campaigners, what was equally significant, perhaps was that it seemed a lovely way to herald the entry of cricket into the Olympic programme! 

Indeed, much has been happening in recent times. There was this Asian Games euphoria that had caught the imagination of sports fans in the country. The unprecedented medals haul in the Hangzhou Games has opened up a new future for sports in India, and hopefully, better times are ahead. Then, as it happened, the International Olympic Committee had its 141st session in Mumbai even as the World Cup was on, and again great news poured out. Among the five new sporting disciplines planned for induction in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, two of them _Cricket and Squash_ had special interest for India, considering how these two disciplines have been making big splashes in the world of sports.

Unlike squash, which had looked to be at the doorstep of entry for some time, cricket strictly was not making a debut. As per the history of the Olympics, cricket was expected to be included in the inaugural Games itself in 1896 in Athens. But there were insufficient entries for what was then to be the only team sport in the Games. In 1900, just two teams came in _ Great Britain and France _ for the Paris edition, but the two contestants were not the true national sides. The British team was actually the Devon and Somerset Wanderers Club side, while the French team was filled with English expatriates.  The value of the event dropped straightaway, but the contest was gone through nonetheless, a two-day match that saw England emerge the winner. Cricket was firmly out of the Olympic programme from then on. So why would the sport gain attention now, over 100 years later? Partly, it had to be to the evolution of cricket from a Test format sport to a limited overs concept, in particular, the T20 version that has become the most sought-after competition that has also topped in viewership, the world over. Imagine, the T20’s mass appeal, it is estimated to cater to over 2.5 billion fans worldwide!

Short and crisp, that has been the advantage of T20 cricket and then again, an Olympics programme could not have thought of a Test-style play that would have taken away 30 hours for each match. Besides, the short version was not just for the cricket-knowledgeable alone, but the uninitiated too. What captures attention is the explosive batting action, the acrobatics of fielding and catching and, of course, cunning bowling efforts. All combined, there is a certain appeal which has captured the audience, and this apparently also made its impact on the IOC, considering it provided a greater financial pot to the Olympic body. As Niccolo Campriani, a three-time gold medallist Italian shooter and now the Sports Director of Los Angeles Games, put it after watching a video presentation of the essence of this cricket at the IOC session, “(this is) easy one to pitch”. Cricket is no longer a sport involving a few countries. Thanks to the shorter version, the spread has been phenomenal as it continues to grow. That Kohli has the reputation of being the third most-followed athlete in the world only adds value. Fittingly, the Indian star is now doing everything to enhance that even further.

If cricket’s induction has been based on its growing acceptance worldwide, then it must be said squash had always been an exciting sport to watch on television, but as Campriani was to say, squash had too long been “the bridesmaid but not the bride”. Considering its popularity in the US, the 2028 Games breakthrough was on expected lines. The former President of the World Squash Federation, Mr N. Ramachandran, who and his team had long campaigned for squash’s entry, himself admitted the sport may have its luck perhaps when the Games are held in France (2024) or the US (Los Angeles) and so it proved. It was his biggest regret as Mr Ramachandran was to say that in his two terms (2008 to 2016), he could only bring squash to the doorsteps of the Olympics. But then he gave Indian squash a boost with his visionary act of establishing a world-class squash academy in Chennai by the turn of the millennium.  This latest development has definitely thrilled him, just as it has the leading Indian players like Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa, two active seniors and once top-ten players in the professional squash circuit. Indeed, after the good show in the Asian Games, something that has been consistently happening, Indian squash would now look forward to making an Olympic mark. 

But then, if only all these developments had come about a decade earlier!  Time flies, and five years from now, for the 2028 Gamers, many of the current sporting idols will have either faded away or are in the final stages of active careers. Like the cricketing greats, including Kohli, who has raised Indian cricket’s stock, so too the seniors in Indian squash, nobody is growing any younger. But it is their effort, squash players included, which should inspire the generation to come.