Japan Showed How Asian Games Can Drive Cricket’s Growth In Emerging Nations, Says Abhiram Singh Yadav

Japan showed how Asian Games can drive cricket’s growth in emerging nations, says Abhiram Singh Yadav (Japan showed how Asian Games can drive cricket’s growth in emerging nations, says Abhiram Singh Yadav)

Sano International Cricket Ground:  Japan’s strategic leverage of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to build broader momentum around cricket serves as an important blueprint for emerging nations to convert major multi-sport events into long-term development opportunities, said Abhiram Singh Yadav, Chairman of Persatuan Cricket Indonesia.

The remarks from Abhiram, who serves as one of the three Associate Members on the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC), come after India retained their men’s and women’s cricket gold medals at the Korogi Sports Park. Pakistan secured the men’s silver and women’s bronze medals, while Sri Lanka claimed the women’s silver and men’s bronze medals.

“Congratulations to India on an outstanding double gold, and to Pakistan and Sri Lanka on their medal-winning campaigns. The competition itself was important for cricket, but there are also lessons from what happened around the Games.

“Jay Shah has consistently spoken about making cricket more inclusive and taking it to more countries. What deserves appreciation is that we are also seeing practical action around that vision,” said Abhiram to IANS on Sunday.

Before the Asian Games, Japan hosted men’s T20 world champions India at the Sano International Cricket Ground, where the hosts came within two runs of causing a historic upset in a rain-curtailed five-over match. The landmark fixture drew a record-breaking crowd of 2,149 spectators - the highest attendance ever recorded for a cricket match in Japan, while tickets were sold out within hours of going on sale.

“That is an important example. Global leadership helped create the connection, and Japan then converted that opportunity into something real. It is one thing to talk about taking cricket into new markets; it is another to create the circumstances in which it can actually happen.

“What Japan did well was connect the pieces. The Asian Games, international cricket, facilities, sponsors, government relationships, media and community engagement were not treated as separate things. Together they created a bigger opportunity for the sport,” added Abhiram.

He further stated that the responsibility to create such opportunities should also not rest solely with Full Members. “We cannot ask stronger nations to open doors for us and then stop opening doors for others when we become stronger ourselves. There should be a chain of opportunity.

“Full Members playing Associates, stronger Associates playing developing Associates, and developing countries becoming better hosts themselves. Rankings have an important competitive purpose, but they should not become walls between cricket nations. They tell us where we are today. They should not decide who we are willing to play tomorrow.”

Looking to the future, where cricket will be a part of 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Abhiram signed off by calling for more matches to be organised between full members and associate nations. “The next challenge is continuity. Japan had a major opportunity in front of it and found ways to create much more around that opportunity. That is the lesson for all of us.

“Full Members playing Associates, stronger Associates playing developing Associates, and developing countries becoming better hosts themselves. Rankings have an important competitive purpose, but they should not become walls between cricket nations. They tell us where we are today. They should not decide who we are willing to play tomorrow.”

Article Source: IANS