The China Mail - West Indies issue LA 2028 Olympic cricket plea

LA 2028 will see cricket returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1900, with a six-team T20 event in both the men's and women's game set to be included in the programme.

The ICC, cricket's global governing body, have yet to announce the qualification process but there are concerns in the West Indies, long one of the sport's established major international teams and the one closest geographically to Los Angeles, that their constituent countries could be excluded.

That's because while the likes of Barbados, Jamaica -- the home of Games sprint great Usain Bolt -- Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago compete under the West Indies banner when it come to international cricket, those territories are all individual entities at an Olympics.

So if cricket qualification for LA 2028 is to be decided primarily on the basis of world rankings, the event could go ahead without any Caribbean involvement at all.

"All we are asking is that our individual nations' exceptional Olympic legacy be considered in the conversation," CWI chief executive Chris Dehring said Thursday.

"Our nations have proudly flown their individual flags atop Olympic podiums as perennial gold medallists.

"Now, with cricket's inclusion, we must ensure that our cricketers are not shut out of history. We are ready to collaborate. We are ready to compete. But above all, we are asking for fairness."

CWI appear to accept there is no prospect of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowing a West Indies team to compete at LA 2028, even though their men's side were T20 world champions in 2012 and 2016 -- when their women took the equivalent female global title.

But in a letter to the ICC, CWI suggested two possible routes for regional representation.

The first would see an inter-Caribbean qualifying tournament should the West Indies men or women find themselves in a qualifying position, allowing the winner to take the region's spot.

In the second, a dedicated regional qualifying process involving each of the West Indies independent nations would take place.

CWI president Kishore Shallow added: "The Caribbean has always punched above its weight at the Olympics, inspiring the world with our athletic brilliance.

"Cricket's return to the Games in 2028 must not exclude our young cricketers from the same dream that has inspired our athletes."

F.Brown--ThChM