The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been pushing to make cricket an Olympic sport but the governing body’s CEO Dave Richardson has now said that a lot depends on the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) stand on anti-doping and its disagreement with National Anti-Doping Agency (Nada).

According to a report in Times of India, Richardson has said that the ICC is trying to make the BCCI adhere to the World Anti-Doping Agency rules and also find a solution with Nada, which has been trying to bring the Indian board under its scanner for long. The BCCI has been saying that it is not a national sports federation and does not take government funding to come under the anti-doping bodies.

Advertisement

“It’s for the BCCI to decide how much government interference they can allow,” Richardson was quoted as saying by TOI. “We are trying to help BCCI sort out the issue with Wada and Nada.”

He added, “We think cricket should be in the 2028 Olympics. But it’s not going to happen unless we are a unified sport. At this stage, we need to convince BCCI that it is a good thing for cricket to be in the Olympics from all aspects. It will generate more fans, growth. The game will get better. It won’t prejudice the value of our own events.”

The ICC had conducted a global strategy survey and 87% of cricket fans wanted it to be an Olympic sport. The governing body thinks that once it becomes an Olympic sport, it can open doors to more government funding in respective countries. Asian Games was a good start but after the 2014 edition, in which Sri Lanka won the gold medal, cricket was dropped from the 2018 edition in Indonesia.

“The reason why Japan has grown rapidly in hockey and won gold at Asian Games is that it’s an Olympic sport,” ICC chief operating officer Ian Higgins said. “Cricket is not an Olympic sport and hence they don’t have enough means to develop their game. It’s same with China.”