Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking at elevating India to the status of a sporting big gun. How, you ask. By hosting the Olympics. Yes, you heard me right.
India has set its eyes on the 2024 Olympics and Ahmedabad could be the epicentre of some serious sporting glare in the next few years.
When International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach arrives in New Delhi in May, on an official visit to meet Modi, this is one thing that would be discussed on the sidelines.
In connection with this desire to host the 2024 Olympics, sports secretary Ajit Mohan Sharan had travelled to Lausanne in Switzerland recently, to hold a discussion regarding this with the IOC top brass. In doing that, it seems that he’d invited Bach to India in April.
During this meeting, it is understood that Sharan had presented a report, but they’re not yet ready to spill the beans. Neither Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal nor Indian Olympic Association officials have revealed anything so far.
So, how does India go about it now? First, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will pick their ‘Applicant Cities’ and send those names to the IOC latest, the deadline for which would be September 15, 2015.
If that deadline is not met, then it would goodbye at that stage itself. If that deadline is met and the names of the “Applicant Cities’ are sent across in time, October 7-9, will be when the IOC will host an ‘Information Seminar’ for these cities in Lausanne.
After a brief break, these applicant cities will have to submit ‘Application Files’ and ‘Guarantee Letters’ from their respective governments to the IOC by January.
After an assessment meeting by the IOC in March 2016, and a short listing of cities in April-May 2016, the shortlisted cities will have to submit a preparedness report in June-July 2017.
It will be in Peru, two years later, in September 2017 that the IOC will disclose the name of the host.
The Indians have two years to take that leap, but just a few months to take the first step.