Rio de Janeiro: The sight of cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar sitting in the stands on the first morning of the Rio Games rugby competition on Saturday was a reminder that at least one major international sport remains outside the Olympic embrace.
Accompanied by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, India’s greatest sporting icon watched the opening matches of a shortened version of a sport that has some parallels with his own.
Like rugby, the elite level of cricket is largely populated by a handful of former British colonies and the game is widely perceived as unfathomable by many outside that heartland.
Unlike rugby, however, cricket has been slow to take up the chance to return to the Olympic fold since Bach opened up opportunities for new sports to replace those considered unappealing to the younger demographic he wants to attract.
For World Rugby’s chief executive Brett Gosper, whose sport returned to the Olympics for the first time in 92 years on Saturday, the potential benefits for cricket were clear.
“Sachin was here for a whole session, loved it and was interested in rugby’s journey to the Olympics and why that’s an interesting prospect, possibly, for cricket,” he said.
“If cricket has similar ambitions to rugby, which is to take its footprint out of its comfort zone, then there’s nothing like the Olympics to allow you to do that.”
