NEW DELHI: IOC president Thomas Bach will visit India this month amid speculation of a bid for the 2024 Olympics by New Delhi or the western city of Ahmedabad.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narayana Ramachandran confirmed Bach was invited to India, and refrained from talking about the bid.

Bach was invited by the IOA and government to visit in the last week of April, Ramachandran told the Press Trust of India.

Indian media say Prime Minister Narendra Modi is exploring the possibility of bidding for the games, and is keen on Ahmedabad, the biggest city in his home state of Gujarat.

IOA secretary Rajeev Meh­ta though said there were no immediate plans for a bid. “I have no knowledge of any proposal to bid for the Olym­pic Games,” Mehta told The Asso­ciated Press by telephone.

India has until Sept 15 to join Boston, Rome and Hamburg, Germany, who are the declared 2024 candidates so far.

India hosted the Asian Games at New Delhi in 1951 and 1982 with some success, but its organisation of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was heavily criticised at home and abroad over corruption charges and delays in construction.

The IOA, which was suspended for more than one year by the IOC in 2012 for electing tainted officials from 2010, dropped its plan to bid for the 2019 Asian Games despite being provided a deadline extension by the Olympic Council of Asia.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2015

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