MUMBAI: India’s intent to host major international athletics events can only fuel its lofty ambition to stage the Olympic Games, believes World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.
“If any country has Olympic ambitions, and I certainly know that India does, then being able to demonstrate a track record of sporting delivery at international level can only be helpful,” Coe said during a year-end online call with reporters on Monday.
During his visit to the country last month, Coe, a double 1500m Olympic gold medallist, met PM Narendra Modi and sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Delhi, where he was briefed by the latter about India’s letter of intent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2036.
At the time, the 68-year-old Briton also revealed that he was pleased to receive a letter of intent from the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to host the World Athletics U20 Championships in 2028.
This week, the AFI announced that India will host its maiden World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level meet in Bhubaneswar next August — another development which, Coe said, underlined the country’s growing ambition to stage big events.
“I’m delighted there’s going to be a continental tour event in Bhubaneswar. I’ve been to Bhubaneswar, it’s a good city. We had the Asian Athletic Championships (in 2017) there. It has political support and local support and that’s good,” the WA chief said. “I’m very grateful to Indian athletics because they are showing an ambition to want to stage more of our events.”
Last month, TOI had reported that power struggles within the Indian Olympic Association had put India on the backfoot in the race to host the 2036 Summer Games compared to rival contenders like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkiye, Indonesia and Hungary.
During his recent visit, Coe made it clear to this newspaper that he had no interest in getting involved in the IOA’s internal matters. However, by putting itself in contention to host events like the junior world athletics championships in 2028, he said India was on the right track towards showcasing its credentials as a nation that’s ready to stage major sporting competitions.
“It’s important,” said the man seeking to become the next president of the IOC, “Evaluation teams need the confidence, and sport particularly needs the confidence that events that are going to be delivered at an Olympic level have at least been delivered at world championship or global competition level. That lends comfort. And so clearly, that track record is important for any city that is wanting to present their credentials for delivering a very very complicated and complex sporting event.
“There’s none more complex than the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
