The cricketing world received a jolt when its hopes of earning an Olympic spot were dashed off by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as it was excluded from the provisional list of 28 sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, along with three other sports.

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In history, cricket has featured at the Olympics only once in the 1900 Paris Games, while weightlifting and modern pentathlon have failed to make the cut for the LA Games. Plagued by issues of corruption and doping, the IOC has given boxing and weightlifting federations a timeframe of 18 months’ time to set their house in order to be considered for the LA Games.

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Moreover, the IOC has ordered to remove equestrian jumping from the event in relation to the modern pentathlon’s case. Athletics, archery, badminton, basketball, tennis and wrestling are some of the sports that have been provisionally added to the Los Angeles Olympics programme.

With cricket only played once during 1990 Paris Games between just two countries, it has featured in other multi-sport -- 1998 Commonwealth Games. However, cricket is set to return to the Commonwealth Games in next year's Birmingham CWG in the form of a women's Twenty20 event.

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The world cricket body ICC in August had started preparations for cricket's inclusion in the Olympics. But, the IOC considers a sport's popularity, cost, complexity, uniqueness and relevance towards young people as factors before including them in the Olympic programme. The ICC, cricket’s governing body, currently has 12 full members and 94 associate members.

Meanwhile, skateboarding, surfing and sports climbing have managed to retain their spots, which made successful Olympic debuts in Tokyo.

The provisional list of 28 sports will be submitted for approval at the IOC session in February next year.

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