The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) finally convened its Annual General Meeting today in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was joined by representatives from all the organisation’s member nations. The meeting was officially chaired by Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi.
He is the new head, that is, the president of the Asian Cricket Council. The meeting, which was once thrown into doubt about completing even its quorum, has now been a success with all member nations joining the meeting, either in person or online.
After the meeting, Chairman Naqvi appreciated the efforts of the organizers, the Bangladesh Cricket Board, and its interim head, Mr. Aminul Islam, the BCB President.
He acknowledged the prestigious moment of having organised the ACC Annual General Meeting for the first time and thanked BCB for creating an atmosphere of professionalism, collaboration, and gracious hospitality.
Cricket included in the Asian Games 2026 in the ACC AGM
The main agenda of the Annual General Meeting of the ACC was to decide the future of the upcoming Asia Cup, its probable hosting rights, and more. However, no conclusion could be drawn on the continental championship, except for a confirmation that it will be held with the participation of 8 member nations.
However, another meeting has been scheduled to decide the fate of the Asia Cup. The ACC made a major decision to announce the inclusion of cricket in the upcoming Asian Games 2026, which is supposed to be held in Japan.
The ACC announced that a total of 10 men’s and 8 women’s national teams from among the member nations of the ACC will be part of the Asian Games 2026, and the selections shall be made as per rankings.
Alongside these, the Asian Cricket Council also announced the inclusion of 3 more new member nations, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and the Philippines, into the ACC family.
History of Cricket in the Asian Games
The Asian Games are a multi-sport event that includes participation of athletes only from various Asian nations. After the 1998 Commonwealth Games, cricket was no longer part of any multi-sport event; however, it was announced that cricket would be included in the 2010 Asian Games by the Olympic Council of Asia.
This marks that the Asian Games 2026 will be the 4th edition of cricket in the games. Currently, India Men as well as India Women stand as the defending champions, having won the Asian Games in 2022.
Before setting up for the Asian Games 2026, it is to be kept in mind that Pakistan is a two-time Women’s champion, and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India have all won the Men’s event once.
Cricket has also been included in the LA28 Summer Olympics
Cricket has attained global heights, as the sport is now not only being played by a limited number of nations, but also various nations known for multi-sport events have shown interest in the game in recent times.
As a result of this, the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 will include the game of cricket and will mark the return of the game to the Olympics for the first time after a gap of 128 years.
The committee is yet to decide on the process of selection of the teams but has confirmed that it would include 6 teams in both men’s and women’s events. Now, after the validation in the Olympics, cricket makes its way into another multi-team sporting event, the Asian Games 2026.
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