In a major development regarding the Asian Games, cricket has been retained in the quadrennial event, while Mixed Martial Arts will be making its debut. The development comes after the 41st meeting of the AINAGOC Board of Directors at Nagoya City Hall on Monday, April 28.
"The latest development in the compilation of the sports programme came at the 41st meeting of the AINAGOC Board of Directors at Nagoya City Hall on Monday, April 28, when cricket and Mixed Martial Arts were both formally approved," the Olympic Council of Asia wrote in a statement.
Notably, the venue for cricket will be in Aichi prefecture, however, the venue for the sport is not decided yet. Meanwhile, MMA will have six events in the Asian Games and will be classed under Combat Sports, alongside kurash and jujitsu.
Cricket has been played at the Games three times before. India are the defending champions in both men's and women's categories. The men's team won the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou after its final against Afghanistan was washed out due to rain and the Men in Blue won the title, courtesy of being the higher-ranked team.
The women's team clinched the yellow metal after beating Sri Lanka in the final by 19 runs. The sport took place in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and in the 2014 Incheon Asiad too, however, India did not participate in both those editions.
However, cricket was not earlier part of the sporting programmes, Alan Curr, Head of Cricket Operations at the Japan Cricket Association, had stated. "Look, if cricket is actually included in the Games, obviously that would be fantastic. However, we have followed up with the organising committee who were pretty clear. There are 41 other sports they are going to deliver for the Games and cricket is not one of them at this stage. Unless someone tells us any differently, we won't be making any plans to take our teams to participate in this event," Curr had told Emerging Cricket.
Cricket is also making a return to the Olympics in 2028 after a hap of 118 years. It took place for the only time in there 1900 Games, in which France won the gold medal after beating the Great Britain.
