KARACHI: The International Olympic Committee has approved the event programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games which will also feature cricket with six teams competing in both men’s and women’s format.
As per the approval by OIC’s Executive Board on Wednesday, a quota of total 90 athletes has been allocated for each gender, allowing every team to name a 15-member squad.
Cricket has actually been part of the Olympics when England took on France in a “one-off” match in Paris with the former winning the gold back in 1900.
The venues set to host cricket fixtures in LA 2028 are yet to be confirmed. The schedule will be finalised closer to the Games.
Cricket is among the five new sports join the Olympic roster under LA28’s host city provisions. Other sports include baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash.
Each of these sports will feature six teams except squash, which debuts with 16-player draws for both men and women.
The 3×3 basketball tournament expands from eight to 12 teams per gender following its successful Tokyo 2020 introduction.
The Los Angeles Games will run from July 14-30, 2028, featuring competitions across Southern California venues including the new Inglewood Stadium that will host swimming events. Organisers expect the expanded programme to maintain athlete numbers while offering more medal opportunities and greater gender balance than previous editions.
Furthermore, the OIC also confirmed a record 351 medal events across 36 sports. A total of 11,198 athletes — comprising 5,655 women and 5,543 men — will compete, marking significant progress toward gender equality in Olympic participation.
Aquatics will offer 55 medal events while athletics will feature 48, maintaining their status as cornerstone Olympic sports. The swimming programme expands to include new 50-metre races in backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke for both genders.
Other sports seeing new events include rowing, which adds coastal beach sprints, and sport climbing where boulder and lead competitions will now be separate medal events.
Football makes history with an expanded 16-team women’s tournament surpassing the 12-team men’s competition.
Water polo achieves gender parity by adding two women’s teams to match the 12-team men’s event. The programme includes 25 mixed-gender events, with new additions in archery, athletics, golf, gymnastics, rowing and table tennis.
The IOC maintained its baseline of 10,500 athletes while allocating an additional 698 quota places for the new sports. With 161 women’s events, 165 men’s events and 25 mixed events, LA28 represents the closest the Olympics has come to full gender parity in its competition programme. Boxing completes the equality push by adding a women’s weight category to match the men’s divisions.
