What is expected to be the biggest Asian Games ever has just got bigger with the news that cricket will be a medal sport for the first time in the 2006 Asian Games to be held in Doha, Qatar.
The Asian Cricket Council formally accepted the invitation from the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee last week to take part in the 15th Asian Games to be held in December 2006. Syed Ashraful Huq, the ACC Chief Executive said that “it is indeed an honour and a privilege to be included in such a high-profile event, and the ACC looks forward to representing cricket with proper distinction. Cricket’s presence at such an occasion can only reflect well on all involved. Cricket is the number 1 sport of a significant part of Asia and the organizers are delighted by our participation.â€Â
Similarly, with so much emphasis placed by state governments on ‘medal sports’, cricket’s presence at the Asian games, backed as they are by the Olympic movement, can only lead to even greater prominence and support for cricket in Asia in the future. A gold medal sport in many peoples’ eyes already, national cricketers may in the not too distant future be competing for Olympic medals on the biggest global stage of all.
Exact logistical details of participation have yet to be finalized but the Games Organisers have already started to make detailed plans about stadia and playing conditions. The allocated land for the competition remains barren up to now, and much needs to be done. There remains enough time however, to turn desert into a cricketing oasis.
Keith McAuliffe of the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute, (who act as consultants to the ACC), says that, “a minimum of 26 weeks are necessary when outfields need to be levelled and grassedâ€Â, though he doesn’t rule out the possibility of needing to “budget for 12 months.â€Â
Some fans already can hardly wait.
Cricket was included to the Olympics, in 1908 in France, and the Commonwealth Games, in 1998 in Kualalumpur, Malaysia. But it wasn’t continued.