CEO of IOC Thomas Bach: India is interested in hosting the Olympics and there are serious concerns

Thomas Bach: T20 format is appropriate; considering a proposal to add it to the upcoming Games

IOC President Thomas Bach said ahead of the 141st session of the International Olympic Committee that India has shown a “great interest” in hosting the Games. He also mentioned that the T20 format, which will be a part of the 2028 edition, was the ideal way to bring cricket back into the quadrennial sporting extravaganza.

Although the official bidding process hasn’t begun yet, Bach stated that there are “serious considerations” regarding India’s potential bid to host the Olympics, potentially in 2036.

“So far, it appears that India is seriously considering bidding for the Games and there is a lot of interest in doing so.” We now have to wait and see how this develops into a project that will be presented to us. Then and only then can we develop an opinion,” Bach said to a small gathering of reporters on Tuesday.

The 69-year-old German added that another factor to take into account in this respect is India’s increasing performance in multi-sport competitions.

“We are pleased with the growth of Olympic sports in India in the last few years. The number of medals won at the Asian Games is quite impressive. You can see that it’s not just shooting anymore—India now has medals in a wider range of disciplines,” he remarked.

The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) governance concerns caused the May scheduled IOC session to be postponed. This weekend’s session will take place in Mumbai. Accusations of corruption also surrounded the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

When asked if these issues would hurt India’s chances of winning the right to host the Olympics, Bach responded, “I don’t think the 2010 CWG will still play a role.” It is impossible to hold such a young country accountable for events in which the vast majority of its citizens had not yet been born. India in 2010 and India in 2019 cannot be compared.

But, he argued, the IOA needs to organize itself. However, the state of the IOA will be a factor. Since IOA is ultimately our agency in India. Additionally, only the National Olympic Committee has the authority to execute contracts related to Olympic candidature. There can be no legitimate candidature without the NOC’s signature. For this reason, he urged us to have faith in the IOA’s governance.

“Some movement has been observed. We hope that this improvement continues, and we will use our visit here as an opportunity to have further conversations. After that, we can trust IOA,” he stated.

Regarding T20 cricket’s Olympic inclusion, Bach expressed his admiration for the sport, which is expected to have its place in the Los Angeles Games confirmed at the next IOC meeting.

“Today, the IOC’s program commission convened to examine this request (pertaining to cricket in Los Angeles). The executive board will be presented with it (which will convene in Mumbai). The IOC session will then need to vote (on) the suggestion made by the board. I must thus use caution while deciding what to say. However, I can tell that I enjoy watching Twenty20 cricket,” he remarked.

The fact that the sport is becoming more and more represented internationally speaks well for it. There is a format available for play at the Olympic Games called T20. There are other countries who are interested in this format. We can see that cricket is becoming popular not just in the nations where it is now played but also in the USA, where there is a rising Indian community. As such, there is a lot of room for growth in that area,” he stated.

There is a fair amount of the sport on each of the five continents. Not all of the sports that are offered at the Olympics fall under this category. Thus, this is an excellent area inside the continents to expand it further. There is still time to grow if 2028 is our target year, he stated.

The head of the IOC stated that he held talks to expand the sport’s reach with the world body of cricket. “I seem to recall having my first conversation with the International Cricket Council (ICC) during my first year on the job. We had already talked about the format and its universal appeal. It just didn’t seem feasible in the format they were using back then. Good progress has already been made. “I’m confident that the ICC will carry on in this manner,” he remarked, noting that several nations would probably boost support for their own cricket federations if cricket is approved for inclusion in LA 2028.