Hosting the Continental Tour athletics event in Bhubaneswar next August and its bid to host the 2028 Under-20 World Championships are good signs, but India is preparing a bid for the 2036 Olympics, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has said.
A successful staging of major events could help India ‘demonstrate a track record of sports delivery at the international level’ which would aid the country in its quest to host the 2036 Summer Games, according to Koi, who also tipped his hat. Candidacy for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
AFI’s 2025 calendar includes a bronze-level Continental Tour event in Odisha’s capital on August 10 next year. During Koi’s recent visit to India, the AFI also submitted a letter of intent to host the Under-20 World Championship.
“First of all, I am very grateful to Indian athletics that they are showing ambition to stage many of our events. I think if a country has Olympic ambitions, I know for sure that India being able to demonstrate a track record of delivering sports at the international level can only help, ” said the two-time Olympic 1500m champion in a Selection Roundtable interaction.
“The evaluation team and the sport need confidence that the events delivered at the Olympic level have been delivered at the world championship or global-competition level. That track record is important for any city that wants to present its credentials for delivering a very complex and complex sporting event. The Olympics And nothing is more complicated than the Paralympic Games.”
Coe chaired the London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
Talking about the country’s potential to host major international events, Koi said: “India has some very important assets, it has a young population, a vibrant commercial market for sports and you have the political will and recognition from the Prime Minister that sports play a role in nation building. and play an important role in building mentally and physically healthy communities.”
India may host more international track and field events in the next few years with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) discussing relays and road events with World Athletics. “The AFI is ambitious, they have talked about the relays and they have talked about the World Road Championships. Their focus is more on the track than on the road. I never take lightly the ambitions of member associations who want to stage our World Championship events. On tour, I have received a letter of intent to host the Under-20 World Championship which is good news and that now sits with our bid team along with other bids,” Coe added.
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