Olympic dream: India could bid for 2024 Games

 Sabi Hussain

New Delhi, March 31

India, it seems, has set its sight on hosting the 2024 Olympics. The venue, if India manages to win the bid, could be Ahmedabad.

Sources confirmed to The Tribune that there are plans to make a formal bid to host the Games in Ahmedabad when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach arrives in New Delhi next month on an official visit to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Although the dates of the meeting haven’t been worked out yet, it has been reliably learnt that hosting the Olympic Games in 2024 will form a key part of the discussion between the two dignitaries. Modi is keen on developing India into a major sporting powerhouse and this could be the first step in that direction. 

Sources informed that sports secretary Ajit Mohan Sharan was in Lausanne, Switzerland, last week where he held discussions with key IOC officials in this regard and invited Bach to visit India in April. Sharan is believed to have submitted a report, based on his meeting with IOC officials, to Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, although he refused to confirm it. In fact, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary general, Rajeev Mehta, too denied knowledge of any such move by the government.

Brazil’s Rio de Janerio will host the next Olympics in 2016, while Japan’s capital city Tokyo will play host to 2020 Summer Games. India want to host the 2024 Olympics as the process to send the ‘Expression of Interest’ has already started since January, 2015.

Italy’s Rome, Germany’s Hamburg and USA’s Boston cities have already sent their bids to the IOC to host the Games. Kenya’s Nairobi, Morocco’s Casabianca, Qatar’s Doha, France’s Paris and Russia’s St.Petersburg are the likely contenders to join the bidding race in coming months.

The National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will have to send the name of their ‘Applicant Cities’ to the IOC latest by September 15, 2015 to set the process in motion for hosting the Games. 

The IOC will not entertain the hosting request after the September deadline.

From October 7-9, the IOC will host an ‘Information Seminar’ for applicant cities in Lausanne. By January 2016, the applicant cities will have to submit ‘Application Files’ and ‘Guarantee Letters’ from their respective governments to the IOC. And in March 2016, the IOC’s Working Group Meeting will assess the application, which will include a video conferencing with each city.

In April-May 2016, the IOC Executive Board will shortlist select cities, and in June-July 2017, the shortlisted cities will submit a presentation to the IOC session informing it about their preparedness.

The host of the Games will be announced at the 130th IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on September 15, 2017.