IOC meet later this week in Mumbai: Is India ready to host the Olympics?

Hosting the IOC session is a major achievement for India as they have only hosted it only once previously, in New Delhi in 1983

After a 40-year hiatus, India will host the crucial International Olympic Committee (IOC) session later this week, which will offer the country an opportunity to showcase its readiness to host major sporting events like the Olympics.

IOC President Thomas Bach, who arrived in Mumbai from Istanbul, will lead the Executive Board meeting from October 12 to 14. This will be followed by the IOC session from October 15 to 17 at Mumbai’s state-of-the-art Jio World Centre.

Hosting the IOC session is a major achievement for India as the country has hosted it only once previously, in New Delhi in 1983.

Incidentally, the session comes days after India’s stellar performance bagging 107 medals at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, which provides further proof of the country’s rapid rise as a sporting superpower.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President P T Usha on Sunday supported the government’s plan to place a proposal to host the 2036 Olympics.

“After this record-breaking performance in the Hangzhou Asian Games, if our country’s athletes, coaches and national federations work hard, I feel we can win double-digit medals in the Paris Olympics,” Usha told PTI.

Kalyan Chaubey, joint secretary and acting chief executive officer of IOA, reckoned that the upcoming IOC session would offer an opportunity to improve India’s sporting infrastructure.

“We started late as a sporting nation. But we are currently the fourth-best in the continent based on the Asian Games results. Going forward, I think this event (IOC session) will help us exchange knowledge and ideas on how to improve our sporting infrastructure,” Chaubey told Business Standard.

“The delegates can offer us insights on how to improve our home-grown sporting programmes such as TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) and Khelo India, or even better, something new and unique can be introduced over the course of time through their inputs,” Chaubey added.

An IOC session votes on key activities of the global Olympics movement, including modifications of the Olympic charter, election of IOC members and office-bearers, and choosing host cities of future Olympics.

As many as 650 delegates from around the world are scheduled to arrive in Mumbai for the big-ticket event.

Apart from Bach, and members of the IOC Executive Board, the session will also be attended by World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, and football governing body Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, among others.

Asked why India was awarded the hosting rights of the IOC session, Bach said it is “a mark of the trust the IOC has in India”.

“We know the potential that India holds and we are excited about partnering with our colleagues in India to be able to host the IOC session. As you know, an IOC session does attract a lot of attention because a lot of important decisions happen in that forum among the IOC membership relating to the future of the Olympic movement, the future of the Olympic games,” Bach explained.

James Macleod, director of NOC Relations, Olympic Solidarity and Olympism365, said: “This will be a significant development for India’s Olympic aspirations, and will herald the start of a new era for Indian sport.”

Some of the major sporting disciplines that are in contention to be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are cricket, break-dancing, baseball, flag football, lacrosse, karate, kickboxing, and squash.