Rio Olympics 2016: Sachin Tendulkar meets IOC President Thomas Bach in Rio
Indian cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar was spotted alongside IOC president Thomas Bach, as the two watched the opening events of the Rugby sevens event at the Rio Olympics. Tendulkar, who is in Rio as a goodwill ambassador for the Indian contingent was keenly following the sport that has made an Olympic return after 92 years.
It seems, Tendulkar also had a chat with Rugby Union executives on how they managed to convince the governing body to introduce Rugby sevens to the list of sports in the Olympics. World Rugby’s chief executive Brett Gosper was delighted with Sachin’s love for sport which made a return after 92 years and feels Olympics would be a fantastic forum to expand Cricket’s global reach
"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 was quoted by Reuters.
Gosper continued by saying, “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. Not just at the time of the Olympics, but in the whole qualification, development, the fact you’re on school curricula, the fact you get more money into those countries that normally probably wouldn’t be distributing much money to.
“I definitely think in terms of an expansive mentality, if that’s where cricket’s at, the Olympics would be a fantastic forum for them,” he added.
The International Olympic Committee has added golf and rugby at the Rio games, while games like surfing, karate, skateboarding and baseball will be added in four years time at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the inclusion of Cricket to the biggest sporting extravaganza is still unknown.
Also read: Why is there no cricket in the Olympics?
However, the concept of bidding for a spot at the 2024 Games was discussed at the ICC annual conference in Edinburgh, last month. "The majority of ICC members believe that if cricket was at the Olympics it could do wonders for globalising the game," ICC chief executive Dave Richardson said last month.
Nita Ambani’s appointment to the IOC council, recently, would also possibly increase the attempts to engage the sport that dominates India.