Cricket/Olympics: France seeks revenge!
PARIS (AFP) France's cricket association is planning to arrange a re-match of the 1900 Olympic final which they lost to Great Britain, officials from France Cricket revealed on Thursday.
France and Great Britain were the only nations to field teams in the cricket competition at the 1900 Olympics in Paris, the only occasion on which the sport has featured at the tournament.
"We are the reigning Olympic silver medallists in cricket," said former France Cricket president Olivier Dubaut. "We have contacted our English counterparts and I am confident that we will see this project succeed," said Tony Banton, the new president of France Cricket, which is a member of the French Federation of Baseball, Softball and Cricket (FFBSC).
Banton added that the re-match "would probably take place in 2012, just before the Olympic Games take place in Great Britain".
France's cricket officials are, however, conscious of the problems they would face if they took on England's full-strength professional side.
"We probably won't play England's professional team, who are too strong for us, but maybe the amateurs or the winners of the British championship," Banton said.
France Cricket also announced the launch, this weekend, of the Superleague, a competition featuring the 10 best French teams which will be decided by a final on September 20.
France's cricket federation currently has 958 members, "but we have the potential for 4,000," according to Dubaut. The organisation's next hope is to see cricket introduced to France's school curriculum.
Source : http://www.afp.fr
France and Great Britain were the only nations to field teams in the cricket competition at the 1900 Olympics in Paris, the only occasion on which the sport has featured at the tournament.
"We are the reigning Olympic silver medallists in cricket," said former France Cricket president Olivier Dubaut. "We have contacted our English counterparts and I am confident that we will see this project succeed," said Tony Banton, the new president of France Cricket, which is a member of the French Federation of Baseball, Softball and Cricket (FFBSC).
Banton added that the re-match "would probably take place in 2012, just before the Olympic Games take place in Great Britain".
France's cricket officials are, however, conscious of the problems they would face if they took on England's full-strength professional side.
"We probably won't play England's professional team, who are too strong for us, but maybe the amateurs or the winners of the British championship," Banton said.
France Cricket also announced the launch, this weekend, of the Superleague, a competition featuring the 10 best French teams which will be decided by a final on September 20.
France's cricket federation currently has 958 members, "but we have the potential for 4,000," according to Dubaut. The organisation's next hope is to see cricket introduced to France's school curriculum.
Source : http://www.afp.fr
