ST. JOHN’S, An­tigua – Crick­et West In­dies (CWI) has called on the In­ter­na­tion­al Crick­et Coun­cil (ICC) and the In­ter­na­tion­al Olympic Com­mit­tee (IOC) to en­sure that the unique struc­ture of West In­dies crick­et is fair­ly rep­re­sent­ed in qual­i­fi­ca­tion plans for the 2028 Los An­ge­les Olympics.

In a for­mal sub­mis­sion, CWI pro­posed two in­clu­sive qual­i­fi­ca­tion path­ways that would al­low Caribbean na­tions, many with sto­ried Olympic tra­di­tions, to com­pete in crick­et’s re­turn to the Games, align­ing with the Olympic Char­ter’s prin­ci­ples of fair­ness, uni­ver­sal­i­ty, and equal op­por­tu­ni­ty.

CWI Pres­i­dent Dr Kishore Shal­low stressed the im­por­tance of in­clu­sion. “The Caribbean has con­sis­tent­ly over­achieved at the Olympics, show­cas­ing world-class tal­ent. Now, as crick­et re­joins the Olympic pro­gram, our young crick­eters de­serve the same chance to chase Olympic glo­ry. The Olympic Char­ter stands for fair­ness and uni­ver­sal ac­cess, and we are sim­ply ask­ing that these val­ues be re­flect­ed in the qual­i­fi­ca­tion process. West In­dies crick­et has earned its place on the glob­al stage and must not be left out.”

Cur­rent­ly, Olympic reg­u­la­tions would pre­vent the West In­dies men’s and women’s teams from par­tic­i­pat­ing, as they rep­re­sent a col­lec­tive of sov­er­eign na­tions rather than a sin­gle Olympic-recog­nised coun­try.

To re­solve this, CWI has sug­gest­ed an in­ter­nal qual­i­fi­ca­tion path­way. If the West In­dies team qual­i­fies via ICC rank­ings, an in­ter­nal tour­na­ment among its Olympic-el­i­gi­ble mem­ber na­tions would de­cide which coun­try rep­re­sents the re­gion.

The glob­al qual­i­fi­ca­tion route is a world­wide qual­i­fi­ca­tion sys­tem that in­cludes as­so­ciate ICC mem­bers from all five de­vel­op­ment re­gions and in­di­vid­ual West In­dies na­tions.

CWI’s pro­pos­al ref­er­ences the Olympic Char­ter’s Rule 40, which re­quires qual­i­fi­ca­tion sys­tems to be trans­par­ent, eq­ui­table, and de­signed to pro­mote glob­al rep­re­sen­ta­tion.

CWI CEO Chris Dehring em­pha­sised the need for col­lab­o­ra­tion. “Our na­tions have a proud Olympic his­to­ry, with count­less medals won un­der their flags. The struc­ture of West In­dies crick­et is unique, 15 na­tions unit­ed un­der one team, each with its own Olympic iden­ti­ty. We can­not al­low this his­toric op­por­tu­ni­ty to pass with­out en­sur­ing our crick­eters have a fair shot. The Olympic spir­it, which we have helped up­hold for decades, must guide these dis­cus­sions.”

“Our ath­letes have stood atop Olympic podi­ums for gen­er­a­tions. Now, we must en­sure our crick­eters aren’t de­nied their chance to make his­to­ry. We are ready to work with the ICC and IOC to find a so­lu­tion that ho­n­ours both the Olympic ideals and the lega­cy of West In­dies crick­et.”

CMC