Gilchrist, Sangakkara to plea for 'cricket at the Olympics'

Dubai, Sep 9 (UNI) In a bid to include cricket in the Olympics, former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist and Sri Lanka's Kumara Sangakkara will appeal to the ICC to consider investigating the possibility of having cricket at the 2020 Games, here tomorrow.

Gilchrist, who first began the 'cricket at the Olympics' movement through his newspaper column in a big way, said, ''The response to my newspaper article has been quite phenomenal, particularly from players. We have the perfect product for the Olympic movement and being part of the Olympic movement will allow us to target over 200 countries around the world.'' Gilchrist argued that the Olympics would attract more attention from the cricket-mad subcontinent nations that make up one fifth of the world's population.

''We have the perfect product for the Olympic movement and being part of the Olympic movement will allow us to target over 200 countries,'' he added.

Wicket-keeper batsman Sangakkara, who has been chosen as players' representative for a number of issues, will also join Gilchrist in his appeal to the ICC.

Sangakkara said he believes that by having cricket at the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would benefit by reaching out to a quarter of the world's population.

''Having cricket at the Olympics would mean, other sports, and the Olympic movement, would become embedded on the sub-continent,'' Sangakkara said.

The Olympic discussion is listed at number 17 on the ICC's agenda, which contains 21 items. It is also being said Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom will speak in support of considering cricket's inclusion in the Olympics.

Cricket has only once featured in the 112-year history of Olympics and it featured in the 1900 Games, when Great Britain defeated France in the final to take the gold medal.

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