The sound of leather against willow will be heard for the first time at an Asian Games next year after the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced that cricket had been added to the program yesterday.
Earlier this week, the OCA general assembly gathered in Kuwait and approved a proposal to include cricket as a discipline at the 16th edition of the multi-sports event in Guangzhou, China.
Both men’s and women’s teams will participate in a Twenty20 format contest, with India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh automatically qualifying, along with host nation China.
Other countries will have to play a qualifying round to fight for three additional spots.
“India and Pakistan were the drivers. Pakistan and India will come with their best teams because it will be a big competition,” said OCA president Sheikh Ahmad al-Sabah after the organization’s general assembly.
“Asia’s four Test-playing nations have committed to sending their best available teams,” al-Sabah said.
The 2010 Asian Games will take place from Nov. 12 to Nov. 27 in the southern Chinese city.
India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are all scheduled to play Test and one-day series that month, but the OCA said once a schedule for Guangzhou was in place “truly the best players for that format will be available.”
Cricket was last seen at a major multi-sport event at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, but was dropped for the next two editions in England and Australia.
Its only appearance at the Olympics was in Paris in 1900, where in a two-day match Great Britain — represented by touring team Devon and Somerset Wanderers — beat France, whose team mainly consisted of members of the British Embassy.
The Guangzhou Games will feature 42 disciplines, three more than at the last event in Doha, with dance sport, dragon boat racing and roller sport added to the agenda. The Olympics have 28 disciplines.
More than 14,000 athletes from 45 countries are expected to take part.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),