India ready to host mega events like Olympics: Sports Secretary

Sports Secretary Hari Ranjan Rao on Saturday expressed confidence in securing the hosting rights for the 2036 Olympics and stated that the government is committed to building a lasting sporting legacy by hosting the quadrennial extravaganza. India has submitted its bid to host the 2036 Olympics and presented Ahmedabad as the candidate city.

Rao stated India was ready for a mega event like the Olympics in terms of infrastructure. “If you look at infrastructure building for the hosting of a multi-sport game like the Olympics, or Commonwealth Games and all, India has already done it and proven it in the past. The infrastructure built at that time is still in use by athletes and various stakeholders.

“So to my mind, creating infrastructure for hosting a multi-sport event is not a childhood dream. Especially where the country is today in terms of the growth curve. If you look at the kind of infrastructure building that is being done by the government overall, sport is a very small component that you require to create,” he said during ‘Gameplan 2036: India’s Global Event Ambition’, a conclave jointly organised by Sports Star and KPMG.

“The larger issue, as a country of 140 crores, is that we need good infrastructure. Olympics or not, we need to give our future generations very good quality sporting infrastructure. I think we are spending money. A large number of state governments are also funding.

Rao said that while the government can take care of the capital expenditure in sports, the private sector also has to chip in. “The corporate sector can play a pivotal role in bridging those gaps, where governments conventionally do not do very well, or fail. Athletes and coaches do not have the wherewithal and capacity to do that. That is, to bridge the gap in terms of their training, their exposure methods, their support in terms of sports science specialists, support in terms of good foreign coaches,” Rao said.

He said that if India gets to host the Olympics, it will create a lasting legacy. “I want to clearly say that the Prime Minister echoed the nation’s sentiment of hosting the 2036 Olympics and we have already bid for that. The process is not just about hosting the Olympics, it’s about leaving a legacy. It’s our dream to host the Olympics,” he said.

“From the government’s point of view, we are looking at the entire ecosystem. Hosting the Olympics is one but the bigger objective is to be a part of the process.” The session was also attended by table tennis great Achanta Sharath Kamal and Paralympic Committee of India president Devendra Jhajharia.