October 16, 2023
NEW DELHI – Terming it as a long dream of 1.4 billion Indians, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday pressed for India’s bid to host the 2036 Olympics, and said that the country will leave no stone unturned in their endeavor to host the quadrennial sporting extravaganza.
Addressing the 141st International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Mumbai, PM Modi cited the importance of sports in India’s illustrious history, saying there are hardly any festivals in the country which do not have any sports associated with them.
“India is very excited to organise an Olympics. India will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to organise the 2036 Olympics. It’s a dream of 140 crore Indians,” the PM said.
Modi further said that India is also willing to host the Youth Olympics in 2029 prior to the Olympics.
“We are willing to host the 2029 Youth Olympics, I am sure India will get constant support from the IOC,” he said in the presence of IOC president Thomas Bach.
“The spirit of sports is universal. There are no losers; there are only winners and learners in sports. Sports empower humanity. Whoever breaks records, everyone welcomes it,” the PM said.
The 141st IOC session is being held in India for the first time since 1983.
Earlier this week, Bach had indicated “serious considerations” about the possibility of India getting to host the 2036 Games.
“There’s a great interest and there are apparently serious considerations in India to bid for the Games. We have to wait now how this will turn into a project and will be brought forward to us. Only then we can form an opinion,” Bach said on Tuesday.
“If you look at the medal haul in this Asian Games, it’s really remarkable. You can see that it’s not only shooting any more, India has medals in different disciplines that are more widespread,” he added.