Before Olympics, Cricket To Make Historic Debut In THIS Multisport Event

The sport of cricket is gaining a wider acceptance and its reach is increasing day by day, ever since it was announced that the game will return to the Olympics with LA 2028, after a gap of more than 100 years. 

But before the Olympics, the game will be played on American soil in a multisport event, albeit not exactly in the United States of America (USA).

In a historic move, the Pan American Games, on June 20 (Friday), announced that cricket has been included in the roster of 36 sports for the 20th edition of the Panam Games to be held in Peru from July 16th to August 1 in Lima. 

The 2027 Lima Pan American Games will be the first American games, including the South American Games, where cricket will be played. These Games will also test the strength of individual Caribbean nations as professional cricket teams, who together form the West Indies cricket team. 

“As Panam Sports, we have taken a very important step with the approval of the 36 sports for Lima 2027. We followed a very democratic process amongst all the National Olympic Committees and today, the Executive Board has confirmed the sports in the program for our Pan American Games,” a press release from Panam Sports quoted their president, Neven Ilic, as saying. 

Cricket has been part of the Asian Games, African Games and Pacific Games among continental events and South Asian Games and South East Asian Games among regional events. Commonwealth Games, a world event, had women's participating for top honours in cricket in Birmingham 2022.