Look Forward to Meeting With Prime Minister Modi: IOC Boss Thomas Bach
IOC chief Thomas Bach is scheduled to hold talks with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday. In the lead-up to the meeting, there are growing expectations that India may make its first bid to host the Olympics Games.
International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach said he was looking forward to his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid growing expectations that India may make its first bid to host the Olympics Games.The meeting is scheduled for 5 PM. Bach will then address the media at the Taj Mansigh at 6.30 PM
Bach also congratulated the Indian Olympic Association on the reversal of a ban last year. The IOC had suspended India for electing officials accused of corruption in 2012, in breach of the Olympic charter.
Speculation that Modi could approve a bid was fuelled by recent reports which said the nationalist premier would raise the issue when he meets Bach, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) president, in Delhi.
Randhir Singh, India's only IOC member since 2001, said interest in a bid would be welcomed by his colleagues, while playing down talk of 2024 as "wishful thinking".
"The IOC would love to see India host the Games," Singh told AFP in an interview.
Despite being the world's second most populous nation, India has a poor record in Olympic competition.
Shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won gold in 2008 in the 10-metre air rifle event, remains the country's only individual champion, while the last of India's eight field hockey titles came back in 1980.
(With Inputs from Suprita Das)