IOA wants India to host 2032 Olympics

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has  sought permission from Indian government to bid for the 2032 Olympics and 2030 Asian Games as part of a drive to put the country at the heart of the international sporting community, said IOA president N Ramachandran.

Ramachandran said the IOA also wanted India to host the Asian Beach Games in 2020, the Olympic Council of Asia’s general assembly that year, and the International Olympic Committee session in 2021. The aim, Ramachandran said, was to use the engagement as a catalyst for the growth of Olympic sports in India.

As the world’s second-most populous nation after China, Ramachandran said it was time for India to follow its powerful. Dismissing concerns about whether India can afford to stage such huge sporting spectacles, Ramachandran said the country was one of the few in the region which had the means to host the sporting extravaganza. It’s was up to the government to set the wheels in motion, he said.

“From my part, I am telling them if you bid, I will make sure you get it,” he added.

Ramachandran said he had spoken about India’s prospects of hosting an Olympics with IOC president Thomas Bach, an indication of the early groundwork required for a serious bid. “You cannot take a decision today and say, ‘I want to host an Olympic Games tomorrow.’ It is an eight-year process. So you have to start now,” Ramachandran said. “If you are looking at anything, it’s 2032. That will give you 10 years to improve the infrastructure and you will have a decision to make in the next four to six years.”

The Indian government had agreed to discuss the proposals in the Cabinet and revert to the IOA, Ramachandran added. Economic power Winning the hosting rights for an Olympic Games is not the hot ticket it once was. Los Angeles and Paris are the only candidates left in the race for the 2024 Olympics after four other cities pulled out over cost concerns.

IOC will award both the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games at the same time and the expectation is that the two cities will host one each.  Ramachandran was confident that India, which is Asia’s third-largest economy, would be capable of meeting the costs. “Even assuming you spend $12 billion on an Olympic event, $6 billion will be given to you by the IOC. What is $6 billion over a period of eight years for a country with an economy as big as ours,” he said`