The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) says it is eager to get plans going with the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) ahead of a potential campaign at the Los Angeles (LA) Olympic Games in 2028.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently named cricket as one of the new sports to feature at the LA Games, with baseball, flag football, lacrosse, squash, and softball.

But JCA Secretary General Ryan Foster says that the body has already established a relationship with the JCA like it has with other sporting associations that were not under the Olympic charter, and this, he says, will help to make for easy dialogue.

“The JCA has been a member of the JOA for many years,” Foster told the Jamaica Observer recently. “They’ve always been, even though they were a non-Olympic sport. They would’ve benefited from our equipment grant that we did in 2019.

“We saw the need and we reached out to as many associations as we could to give them that support. We invested in the JCA via the equipment grant. I think the investment, now, is going to be far greater given that they’re now potentially involved in 2028.”

However, planning for the qualification process has some complications to work out. This includes whether the IOC will require each Caribbean nation to qualify independently or allow the region to compete collectively as the West Indies, as it does at the highest level of the game.

“I think the dynamics will change a little bit more because now we’re going to be looking at what is the road map to 2028 and to fine-tune with the Local Organising Committee [a team put together by the host city to plan the Olympics] as well as the IOC what are the parameters within which who can qualify, how you can qualify, where the qualifiers are, et cetera. Once we get that information we’ll be looking not just to the JCA but also squash and the other sports that would have been approved for LA 2028 to get a little bit more detail to ask them now to submit their Olympic road map.”

Foster says once that goal is much clearer, in terms of how to achieve it, the JOA will meet with the JCA executive to see how best to move forward.

“I hope it’s Jamaica,” Foster said. “We are prepared to invest in that sport, just like any other sport. We are not anti-major sport, but we are sport for all.”

Local cricket has faced a number of challenges in recent times, especially because of the break in activity for a number of years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There have also been issues regarding venues and infrastructural maintenance — one of the reasons the Government decided not to bid for games in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup next year.

Foster says these issues also have to be quickly addressed before launching a qualification campaign.

“The conversations now change a little bit, not just getting cricket back up, but it has to be at an international level of infrastructure,” he said. “This means the cricket grounds have to be improved on, and not just having one location certified. Is it that we’ll have the qualifiers here or share them in a cricket tournament?

“Once this is cleared up, we will have that discussion with the JCA and to see how we can assist in funding to ensure we get on that plane, whether as individuals, meaning a Jamaica structure, or West Indies as a group.”