Paris [France]: Former India head coach Rahul Dravid lauded cricket’s inclusion in the sports programme for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, calling it truly phenomenal.
Dravid was a part of an exclusive panel discussion organised by Dream Sports, titled ‘Cricket at the Olympics – Dawn of a new Era’, at the first ever India House at the ongoing Paris Olympics.
“If you love sport as I have, you grow up with the Olympics. My earliest memories are of Carl Lewis winning at the Olympics and television coming to India. We used to be glued to the television sets to watch these great athletes perform and play. You always wanted to be a part of a great event. You have great events in cricket but they are individual events. To be in this kind of environment, energy and vibe is a dream come true for any sportsman,” Dravid was quoted in a release from India House as saying.
The panel also featured the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) CEO Geoff Allardice and Harsh Jain, CEO of Dream Sports. Allardice spoke about the ICC’s vision of growing the game, saying, “You could see in the way USA performed at the T20 World Cup and all of a sudden people who didn’t know about cricket were talking about the performance of the USA team. Leading up to the Olympics in 2028, that was the first real statement there.
USA having a really competitive cricket team four years out from hosting the Olympics is a really good step.”
Calling cricket’s inclusion at the Olympics long overdue, Jain said, “The ICC has over a 100 members, so more than half of the world plays cricket. It is a big win win for the world to have a billion people more watch the Olympics. It is a big moment for India and cricket. It is a big moment for cricket’s development in the world. A lot more funding would go towards cricket’s inclusion at the grassroots level.”
Dravid also reflected on the passion for the sport in the USA and said that there is a huge passion for the game over there.
“We know there is an incredible audience for cricket in the USA. We know that just from the number of people who travel from USA to other World Cup events. There is a huge passion for the game in the USA. Just growing the game and having more people play the game was phenomenal,” the former India head coach added.
A self-confessed sports fan, Dravid was eagerly looking forward to cricket’s inclusion at the Olympics, saying, “It always felt like cricket should be a part of this. It is truly a great game. It is followed by so many people around the world. It is fantastic for someone like me who is now only a fan. It is truly phenomenal.”