IOC chief’s visit fuels talk of Indian bid

The country hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: International Olympic Committee (IOC) supremo Thomas Bach will meet India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday amid growing expectations that one of the Olympics’ perennial underachievers may make its first bid to host the Games.

Even if hosting the Olympics in 2024 appears unlikely, observers say Modi may sanction a bid for further down the line, although he will be anxious to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing headlines that accompanied the shambolic 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

With Beijing having played host in 2008 and Tokyo due to do the honours for a second time in 2020, there is a growing sense that an Indian bid to stage the world’s biggest sporting competition is overdue.

Speculation that Modi could approve a bid was fuelled by recent reports which said the nationalist premier would raise the issue when he meets Bach, the IOC president, in Delhi.

Randhir Singh, India’s only IOC member since 2001, said interest in a bid would be welcomed by his colleagues, while playing down talk of 2024 as “wishful thinking”.

“The IOC would love to see India host the Games,” said Singh. “Everything will depend on how the talks between Modi and Bach go because ultimately it is the government that has to make a call.

“But why not? If it is not 2024, it could be 2028 or even 2032. There is more awareness when you organise a Games. The interest grows, there is more sponsorship, there is benefit all round.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th,  2015.

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