As International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Brisbane will be a non-binding preferred bidder for hosting 2032 Olympics, trouble started brewing for Indian Olympic Association president Narendra Batra. (More Sports News)
With this announcement, it also came to light that India has also lost out in the race to host 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) and 2030 Asian Games.
IOA and especially Batra had in 2018 famously announced that India will bid for all these above mentioned event.
First to criticize Batra was IOA treasurer Anandeshwar Pandey.
Pandey said “It is a big opportunity lost. Kuch log khayali pulao bana rahe the (some of us were too busy making castles in the air) and ended up doing nothing,” Pandey, a known critic of Batra, told The Tribune.
With this India will not be able to bid for the Asian Games and the YOG either. Doha and Riyadh are in race for hosting the 2030 Asiad as IOA failed to lodge India’s bid. While IOC has decided to postpone the 2022 YOG to 2026.
Pandey said Batra should explain to IOA executive and all the National Sports Federations (NSFs).
“This matter will be raised in the executive committee. It was his (Batra’s) responsibility to make all those claims a reality. He had to take the EB and general body in confidence and then he had to talk to the government and then maybe led a delegation to IOC or OCA and bid for games,” he said.
