Olympics would be an amazing opportunity - Hunter

Hunter is setting her sights on qualification for the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup

Ireland's Amy Hunter says it would be an "amazing opportunity" to become an Olympian with T20 cricket set to feature at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

The sport will return to the Games for the first time in 128 years with a six-team tournament for men and women's teams.

Qualification is to be decided based on continents and play-off matches, with Europe's representatives most likely between Ireland and Team GB.

Reaching the 2026 T20 World Cup in England will therefore be a major factor for women's qualification with Ireland preparing for next year's final Global Qualifier in Nepal where they will seek to claim one of the four places available.

"Ever since I was a young kid I wanted to go to the Olympics," Hunter told BBC 5 Live's Sports Extra on Sunday.

"I never knew what sport it would be for, but I think it's an amazing opportunity to get all of the best athletes in the world in one place. It would be so cool to be there and see some of those athletes around the village.

"We completed European qualifiers there successfully and now we go to Nepal in January/February. Four go through from that to make it a 12-team tournament."

'Bitterly disappointing' to miss out on ODI World Cup

The 19-year-old wicketkeeper and batter said it was "bitterly disappointing" to miss out on qualification for the Women's Cricket World Cup in India and Sri Lanka which begins on 30 September.

However, reaching the T20 version would soften the blow and emerging from next year's 10-team qualifier in Nepal is now the ambition.

"There were three games we could have won against Bangladesh, Pakistan and West Indies where we got into winning positions, so that was gutting," Hunter reflected.

"In the short term, there are the (T20) qualifiers in Nepal and I would absolutely love to qualify out of that.

"It's an amazing opportunity for ourselves. In the past couple of years, we've favoured the T20 format for whatever reason, so we're hopefully in a good position for that and next summer playing in a World Cup in England would be fantastic."