Cricket at LA Olympics to begin on July 12, medal matches on July 20 and 29
Los Angeles (PTI): Cricket's much-hyped return to the Olympics at LA Games will take shape at the Fairgrounds Stadium in the city of Pomena -- about 50km from Los Angeles -- from July 12 with the medal matches scheduled on July 20 and 29, 2028.
A total of six teams each in men's and women's sections and 180 players will compete in the T20 format in the quadrennial showpiece, which hosted cricket for the first and only time in 1900.
There are no matches scheduled on July 14 and 21 and most of the the matchdays will be double headers, according to the competition schedule released by the organisers.
The only time the gentleman's game was played at the Olympics was in Paris way back in 1900. Only two teams, Great Britain and France, competed in a two-day match with the former winning the gold medal.
With a total of 90 athlete quotas allocated in the men's and women's sections, the 12 competing teams can name 15-member squads.
Cricket's growing popularity can be gauged from the fact that three venues in the United States -- Grand Prairie, Lauderhill, and New York -- organised several matches of the 2024 T20 World Cup, jointly hosted by USA and the West Indies.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had approved cricket, baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash as five new sports to feature at the 2028 Games.
"When the world comes here for these Games, we will highlight every neighbourhood as we host a Games for all and work to ensure it leaves a monumental legacy.
"We are already delivering that legacy as we announce there have been more than one million enrollments in PlayLA. I want to thank LA28 and the International Olympic Committee for making these programs possible and for their continued work to host the greatest Games yet," said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a statement.
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Electorate in 9 states, UTs shrink by 1.70 crore after SIR
New Delhi (PTI): Voter base in nine states and Union territories has shrunk by more than 1.70 crore following the publication of final electoral rolls as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), according to official data.
The data shared by the chief electoral officers of Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa and Kerala on Saturday showed that their combined voter base stood at over 21.45 crore before the SIR exercise began on October 27 last year.
It shrunk to 19.75 crore after publication of their final electoral rolls this week, a net change of over 1.70 crore electors.
While the exercise, which kept the Election Commission in the spotlight, has been completed in Bihar, it is currently underway in 12 states and Union territories covering nearly 60 crore electors.
The remaining 40 crore electors will be covered in 17 states and five Union territories.
In Assam, a "special revision", instead of SIR, was completed on February 10.
Due to a variety of reasons, the SIR in the nine states and three Union territories have seen frequent tweaking in schedules.
As in Bihar, political parties have approached the Supreme Court challenging the exercise in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
