Positive on India hosting 2036 Olympics, but prediction premature: IOA CEO

Business Standard

5 days ago

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is "very positive" about the country getting the hosting rights of the 2036 Olympics but feels that it's "premature" to predict anything right now as more countries are joining the race.
Qatar is the latest country to reveal that it has begun a "dialogue process" with the Future Host Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the hosting rights of the 2036 Games, the first step in a lengthy process before a host country is selected.
"We would like to believe that we are in a very positive state. But still it will be premature to say (who will get the hosting rights) because there are still countries which are jumping in. So that's where we are," IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer said at a press conference here on Thursday.
India, which submitted its 'Expression of Interest' last year, is one step ahead as it is in the 'Continuous Dialogue Process' with the Future Host Commission (FHC) of the IOC. The next step is the 'Targetted Dialogue Process' before the FHC recommends a preferred host country to the IOC Congress.
He said that the host country for the 2036 Olympics is likely to be known only after two years as the IOC itself has announced a "pause" on the whole process.
"We are in a stage of continuous dialogue currently with the IOC. It's pause and reflect for the IOC right now. They just got a new leader (president) who is driving some changes within the IOC.
"In next couple of years we will really get to know which direction it is going," said Iyer whose appointment was ratified by the IOA executive council after more than a year due to a bitter feud between Usha and majority of the EC members.
An IOA delegation visited Lausanne last month to push for the 2036 Olympic bid. The delegation included IOA president PT Usha, sports secretary Hari Ranjan Rao, Gujarat Sports Minister Harsh Sanghavi among others.
Asked about the visit, Iyer said, "It was a very positive meeting (with IOC officials). It was attended by the IOC top brass. And the follow-up would be at some point in time, they (IOC officials) would look at coming down to India very soon.
"The way continuous dialogue works currently, it's almost like they (IOC) were holding a workshop for us. It is not that we would present and say this is the city and this is how we do it.
"They (IOC) have held a workshop for us. It's a lot on sustainability, on athlete-centric work that you are going to be doing. It's a lot on the legacy that you are going to leave. So it need not just be one city." 2030 CWG bid decision to be known in November"It's an ongoing process. The Commonwealth sports representatives, the team management and the sports management, they will be going around all the prospective hosts before the General Assembly decides the host in the last week of November in Glasgow," said IOA executive member Harpal Singh.
India's chances of getting the 2030 CWG has improved after Canada pulled out of the bidding race.
"The host selection will be based on sustainability, athletic centre, flexibility in terms of regional appeal, there needs to be flexibility in terms of the host nations taken.
"We are hopeful and optimistic that the 2030 Games will come to India." IOA Athletes Commission to launch ambitious 'India Plays' programme IOA Athletes Commission vice-chairman Sharath Kamal announced the launching of 'India Plays' programme on August 29, the National Sports Day, aiming to get 100 million people playing a particular sport or any activity.
"We can clearly see that India is growing more into the direction of building athlete-centric programmes. We would launch a campaign called 'India Plays' which will try to get 100 million people playing a particular sport or any activity on the 29th of August which happens to be our national sports day," said the celebrated former table tennis player.
"We'll try and run this campaign through the Athletes Commission of the IOA where we'll have the other Olympians and elite athletes as ambassadors and mobilisers to reach out to the various state Olympic associations and national sports federations, ministry of youth affairs and sports, fit India movements and various other organizations.
"We need to have more number of people playing sport and having sport as a way of life. Of course, we all want the medals, Olympic medals and trying to excel at international level but for us as athletes I think this will be a strong movement which will make a sport a part of life, a way of life in every citizen of India." He also said that the IOA Athletes Commission will establish a strong communication channel for active and retired athletes across all sports.
"We will develop structures for mental health support, career transition guidance and training access beyond the competitive years and empowerment and leadership programmes where we try and create mentorship programmes and athlete led workshops to help build leadership programmes for all the athletes.