The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have confirmed that Cricket will be part of the 2026 Asian Games programme, to be co-hosted by Japan’s Aichi Prefecture and its capital Nagoya. The organizing committee of the games announced the decision at Monday’s board meeting in Nagoya, following a request from the Olympic Council of Asia, with the sport now being part of the LA 2028 Olympics program as well.
Aichi prefecture currently so not have a cricket ground or facility available to stage the matches, and the organizing committee is in talks with local authorities for the possibility and feasibility of putting up a temporary structure, the likes of which was put up in New York to host 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup matches. Sano International Cricket ground, which regularly host’s International matches/series in Japan, is located in the Tochigi Prefecture.
The previous edition of Asian Games in Hangzhou, which featured cricket as a medal discipline, did not see any participation from any Gulf region cricket boards, due to player eligibility rules of Regional Games, which are different to ICC eligibility rules. Hence, As per the discussion held last year between the Associate Cricket boards in the Gulf region (UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain), all countries will be developing their own Squads made up of Nationals, with the intention to field them in future Asian Games or Olympics (if there is any qualification events for that). Best players from these squads will also be integrated in the senior squad for ICC events as well. Bi-lateral series will happen for the Nationals squads every now and then and also plans are on the table for Gulf region tournament for all Nationals squads of each member.
