ACC planning to include cricket in multi-sports events
Nazmul Hassan
||CF Correspondent||
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan, who took over as president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) earlier this week, revealed that the ACC has plans to include cricket in the Asian Games. He returned to the country on Wednesday (November 21) following the Annual General Meeting of ACC in Lahore.
International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Dave Richardson was also present in the meeting. In April, Richardson had said that they were late in formally applying to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include cricket in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. He was hopeful of seeing cricket in the Olympics by 2028.
According to Hassan, the concerned authorities have also planned to include the game in the Olympics.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) included cricket in the Asian Games in 2010. The T20 format of the game was played in the event in 2010 and 2014. However, OCA dropped cricket from the program in April 2017.
“We have discussed the Asian Games. We want to include cricket in multi-sports events. But there are certain issues, for example, if the Asian Games is being held in a country where there are no cricket stadiums, where they don't play cricket. In that case, it naturally does not attract much excitement.
“So, we have made a plan that we will take cricket into the Asian Games and the Olympics Games within a certain period of time, which I cannot disclose now.
“We have discussed a timeframe even in the last meeting in Lahore regarding entering different events. A lot of work has to be done. We'll be doing those works,” Hassan told reporters.
The BCB president is happy that the supporters of the game are breaking the stereotypes by being attracted to clashes that were not so popular in the past. He also informed that the regional governing body of the game is planning to organize the Asia Cup every year.
“I heard that the Bangladesh-Afghanistan clash was the highest viewed. Unbelievable!” said Hassan. “Bangladesh-Sri Lanka was probably the second-highest [viewed]. So the stereotypes are changing. Previously, it was about India-Pakistan. Now Bangladesh is also getting the audience's attention. Afghanistan also had spectators in their matches. Things are changing. Cricket is becoming more popular in these places.”
“We are thinking of organizing the Asia Cup every year – this is a positive side.”
The ACC meetings will be held in Bangladesh during Hassan’s tenure, confirmed the 57-year-old. He said that ACC and ICC currently have a different relationship, since the latter has stopped providing funds to ACC. However, these two governing bodies will be discussing certain topics in near future.
“Currently, we have a different relationship with ICC. We used to get funds from ICC in the past but we do not get that now. So we have separated a bit. There are certain areas which can be discussed with the ICC and I think we will do that.
“Maybe we'll have our next meeting in Dhaka. We want to arrange the meetings in Dhaka during my tenure. We will discuss our next course of action there. I will also have a formal meeting with the ICC chairman. Before that, we will finalize the agendas and the topics for discussion,” Hassan said.
