LA 2028 Olympics: List of new sports & India's medal chances in them

Five new sports have been included in the LA 2028 Olympics.

After the Paris Olympics, it’s now time for Los Angeles in 2028. Fans are excited about this global festival, which will be held after almost three years. The International Olympic Committee has announced five additional sports for Los Angeles: cricket, squash, baseball, flag football, and lacrosse. Apart from these five sports, many new sports have also been included in the Olympics.

In archery, we have the 6th event, which is mixed archery. Men’s and women’s doubles have been included in table tennis, and a mixed team event has been included in place of the team event. Boxing, which was initially in doubt at the start due to many controversies regarding the scoring system, is all set to be part of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games with a new women’s category as well.

Moreover, the weight category has been changed. New events have been added in swimming and athletics. The number of teams in basketball and football has increased. On that note, let’s take a look at the list of new sports and India’s medal chances in them.

Cricket

Cricket will be included in the Olympics after 128 years. It first featured in the 1900 Olympics. This time, both the men’s and women’s teams will participate. The tournament will feature six teams each. India has a strong chance to medal in both categories.

Indian men’s cricket team, the defending T20 World Champions, will be the favourites to win gold at the LA Olympics. With Australia, England, South Africa, and New Zealand in the fray, it will be an interesting competition to watch out for. Meanwhile, the Indian women’s cricket team will be expected to win at least a bronze medal.

Compound Archery

The inclusion of a compound mixed team event is promising for India’s medal prospects. India has been much stronger in compound archery compared to recurve. Also, unlike recurve, Korea does not dominate in compound archery.

The mixed team has performed brilliantly in recent years, winning four gold medals and six podium finishes in the last 11 World Cups. They also won gold at the 2022 Asian Games and the 2023 Asian Championships.

They reached the quarterfinals in the 2023 World Championships and won a silver medal in 2021. In the recent World Cup held in Florida, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Rishabh Yadav won the gold medal in the mixed-team event.

Squash

One of the new sports to make its debut in the Los Angeles Olympics, squash will feature both men’s and women’s singles. As of now, it will be difficult for us to medal at the Olympics, but we have a lot of young talent coming up who can improve in three years, and we might have a medal contender in squash.

Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh are two such young players who can be medal contenders if they continue to improve at the current pace.

The 17-year-old Anahat has been making waves at the junior and challenger levels and has started doing well in the senior circuit as well. We also have world junior bronze medalist Shaurya Bawa, who can also do well in three years.

Boxing

Boxing will continue at the Los Angeles Olympics. After not being placed in the initial list of sports, boxing in Los Angeles was in doubt. Now that it has a new governing body, one can expect more transparency in the scoring system. India has done well in boxing in the past and has been dominant in the women’s category, and the addition of one more women’s category will be an advantage for India.

Moreover, with the new weight categories, we can play both Nitu Ghangas and Nikhat Zareen at the Olympics. Both are world-class boxers and have won the world championships in the past. Lovlina will also play in the 70 kg category, which will be helpful for her as she won an Olympic medal in the 69 kg category.

Table Tennis

India is growing rapidly in table tennis and has also performed well in the last few years. Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula created history by becoming the first Indian paddlers to reach the R16. India has won a historic bronze in the Asian Games in the women’s doubles category.

This time women’s doubles category has also been included in the Olympics, and India may have a good chance to win a medal in this category. Sutritha Mukherjee and Ayikha Mukherjee have won bronze medals in the Asian Games and Asian Championships, defeating higher-ranked opponents en route.

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