Or at least it isn't according to the Russians!
I've already seen a few posts on the platform discussing what constitutes a sport and what doesn't as well as few more on some of the weird and wonderful incarnations of sport that exist around the world. However, it appears that all one really needs to do in order to be recognised as a sport in Russia is fill out the requisite paperwork. That is what the Russian Mini-Golf Association has done and so it, according to the Russian Sports Ministry, is a sport. Unfortunately, it would appear that the administrators in charge of the Russian cricket team weren't so good at dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s and so their application for consideration as a sport which would have attracted funding from the ministry has been refused.
This must come as something of a kick in the teeth to Cricket Russia who became an associate member of of the ICC in 2012. In looking to do a little bit of research into the game in Russia, I discovered that their website is currently down but promises to "be back soon". Presumably, once they are actually recognised as a sport?
What I did discover is that it is St. Petersburg which seems to produce the best Russian cricketers and have the most, albeit limited, interest in the "sport". In fact, the St. Petersburg Lions cricket club is competing in the European Cricket League (ECL) that starts in just 9 days time! The ECL describes itself as the "Champions League of cricket" and will comprise 8 teams from cricketing powerhouses such as France, Denmark and Germany.
The tournament itself will be played in Spain and if you are in the area then you should head along because entry is free! The official website also states that all of the matches will be live-streamed at no cost. If that is the case then I intend to watch the St. Petersburg Lions in action and I will write up a match report for the Russian Ministry of Sport - if anyone wishes to translate it into Russian for me then they are most welcome.
The Iron Curtain has fallen and so now you can contact Russian Ministeries via Facebook - get ready for my blog Putin!
It often comes as a surprise for many people who don't live in a cricket playing nation to discover just how popular the sport is with different agencies ranking it as either the 2nd or 3rd most popular sport worldwide in terms of viewing figures. The below is a table from the site that came up as the top result on a google search and i've no idea how they are collecting this data but it's clear to see that cricket is right up there with the big boys in terms of it's following. Now we just need the Russians and a few others to get involved and we can overtake football in first place :-)
https://sportsshow.net/top-10-most-popular-sports-in-the-world/