CHENNAI : The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday to discuss about a wide range of sporting issues. One of the prominent topics was India’s interest in hosting the 2026 Youth Olympics. While the IOA officials had spoken about this interest previously, it came to light recently that they have three cities in mind to host the biennial bash.
One of Mumbai, Bhubaneswar or New Delhi will be short-listed by the national Olympic body before they forward their recommendation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It can be noted that the capital of Odisha has hosted a number of high-profile events in the recent past.
There was also a detailed discussion on holding the next edition of the men’s hockey World Cup. Shah, in fact, asked Batra about the kind of progress happening in the sport at the grassroots level. "(The) holding of the men’s World Cup in January 2023 in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela was discussed. The minister also spoke about about progress, development and growth of hockey development happening in India at the grassroots and elite level," Batra said after the meeting.
Batra and Shah also spoke about the preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games. "We (IOA) updated (the home minsiter) about our preparations and training for the 2020 Olympics," said the IOA chief. They had also discussed about the Fit India Movement, Target Olympic Podium Scheme and Khelo India Youth Games. The latter is set to begin in Guwahati from January 9.