In a high profile meeting with International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach and IOC member from India, Mrs. Nita Ambani, the incumbent CM of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, made the surprising announcement.
Apart from the 2026 Youth Olympics, already in news due to IOA President Shri Narinder Batra’s previous declaration, Devendra Fadnavis has declared his support for Mumbai serving as the host for the 2032 Summer Olympics, the biggest as well as the most popular multi sporting event in the entire world!
Thomas Bach was recently a guest of honor at a reception hosted by Nita Ambani comprising luminaries like the Maharashtra CM, eminent cricketer Sachin Tendulkar as well as some of the Commonwealth Games gold medalists including the likes of famous table tennis star Achanta Sharath Kamal. In such a dignified presence, such a declaration does hold some value.
Besides, in an earlier meeting with some Central government ministers, including the Sports Minister, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Thomas Bach reportedly said, ‘If India expresses its desire to host the Olympics, we can’t say no.’
If successful, this will be another shot in the arm for India, especially the NDA government, who successfully hosted the 2003 Afro Asian Games and capitalized its success for gaining the hosting rights to 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, though it’s another matter that the succeeding government of Manmohan Singh made a mess of the Games altogether.
On a realistic note, the bidding process for the said events hasn’t even started, and wouldn’t take anything less than 3 years to even commence. However, with such strong commitments, India has declared that they’re the first bidders for the mega event of the Summer Olympics, to be held in 2032.
The bids for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics were conducted simultaneously, and were subsequently awarded to Paris and Los Angeles respectively, both the cities getting the honor to host it again after the previous editions of 1924 Paris Olympics and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics respectively.
If this bid is successfully won, it can work wonders for the Indian sports, boost the popularity of the sports as well as increase India’s prestige in the world. Despite being the world’s second most populous country, India has barely 28 medals from the 24 Olympics it has taken part in. So, one can imagine the tremendous potential of hosting the coveted Olympics in such an environment.
The decision has received a wholehearted support from many personalities, including the famous shooter Abhinav Bindra, India’s first individual Olympic gold medalist who commended the initiative.
If we r to bid for a Multi discipline event , the youth Olympics is the ideal event in our current ecosystem. More than the event , investment which would be directed to the grassroots and our youth will help build champions for the future.Good luck Mumbai 2026 in your endeavour!
— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) April 21, 2018
Though he refrained from referring the potential bid for the 2032 edition, it is clear that Abhinav is in for anything that can revolutionize Indian sports.
With such backing for drastic reforms, we should be indebted to people like CM Devendra Fadnavis, who have taken the risk to declare their support for such events.
While it’s a long way to go, we are certain of one thing: till the time we have the attitude of bearing risks, India can never turn back to oblivion, but will continue to progress further. A successful Olympics will further give a boost to the image of ‘India Shining.’