IOC Chief Thomas Bach to Visit India This Week

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach will be in India on the 26th and 27th of this month, for a crucial meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various Indian officials. Bach will land in New Delhi late on the 26th, and will be involved in meetings all day long on the 27th before heading back to Lausanne, an Indian Olympic Association official confirmed to NDTV.

The IOC chief will not be visiting any games venues in Delhi or any other Indian city, as was being reported earlier. Bach's day will start with a meeting with PM Modi, following which he will attend lunch thrown by Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Later in the day, Bach will meet the Executive Committee of the IOA, after which he will interact with the press.

Bidding for the 2024 Olympics can be done by interested hosts till October this year. President Bach recently met French President Francois Hollande to discuss Paris' prospects for the same.

And while it may be too premature to say whether Bach and Modi will discuss the 2024 Olympic bid, the fact is that Bach, a former Olympian himself, is very keen on India and its success at the Olympics.

"It's not fair to comment on what will be discussed," IOA President N Ramachandran told NDTV. "But the President is bullish on India. We have the second largest population in the world. The President is always telling me that for a country of 1.2 billion people you are getting very few medals."