NEW DELHI: International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Narinder Batra who was elected as the head of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) this week, has expressed his intent that the country should seek hosting rights for the Olympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Batra has been appointed to the IOA for a four-year period. He was elected as the new president of the FIH in November 2016, becoming the first Indian official to lead an Olympic sport’s global governing body. He has now taken on the presidency of the IOA from 2018 to 2022 after securing 143 of the 160 votes cast at the body’s annual general meeting.
“My intention is to see that India should improve its medal tally in every event and work with the sports ministry to ensure better involvement of all the stakeholders,” Batra told the media. “My belief is we should think big. We can host the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in the future, even the Olympics, maybe in 2032.”
Batra told The Hindu that the 2030 Commonwealth Games should be targeted. The Commonwealth Games was the last major multi-sport event hosted by India, when New Delhi staged the 2010 competition.
The 2032 Games is the next edition of the summer Olympics that would become available to bidders after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed on a plan that will see the 2024 and 2028 Games staged in Paris and Los Angeles.
On sporting ties with Pakistan, Batra told Indian Express, “As far as global events are concerned, we have to play Pakistan. Pakistani sportspersons participated in the Asian Athletics Championship in Bhubaneswar a few months ago. But I am personally not in favour of having bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan till the relations between the two countries improve. The situation on the border also needs to get better in this regard.”
