Ahead of International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach’s visit to India in mid-April, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, on Monday, said that the country is unlikely to host any big tournaments in the immediate future.
Speaking at an “Idea Exchange” event hosted by The Indian Express, Rathore said his ministry’s focus would be to build “small, practical playfields” instead of “mammoth stadiums” that will be required to host an event like the Olympics.
“The bottom line for doing anything, taking such decisions [like hosting big-ticket events], the bottom line needs to be what good is that tournament going to be for our country? Is it going to be beneficial for us? And anything that comes our way, where we have to even consider hosting a big tournament, these are the essentials that we would answer. Right now we don’t foresee us hosting big tournaments in the immediate future,” Rathore was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
“I think what is important is that instead of mammoth stadiums, I would rather have small practical playfields available to a larger section of the public,” he added.
Last week, Indian Olympics Association President Narinder Batra said he would convey to the IOC India’s “readiness to host big-ticket multi-discipline events”.
