Cricket faces the axe from the 2014 Asian Games after organisers of the showpiece in Incheon, South Korea, on Thursday omitted the sport from their list of proposed events.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) decided last year that the number of sports in future Asian Games should not exceed 35, with 28 from the Olympic Games and a maximum of seven to reflect the sporting culture of Asia's five zones.
The plan
Incheon organisers are hoping to include baseball, bowling, kabaddi, sepak takraw, softball, squash and wushu alongside the 28 sports on the list for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the OCA said in a statement.
The 16th Asian Games, which get underway here on Friday, features 42 sports and 476 events with cricket being played for the first time.
Cricket was last seen at a major multi-sport event at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, but was dropped for the next three editions in England, Australia and India.
