India has very good momentum in bid to host 2036 Olympics: IOC FHC member Parsons

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Future Host Commission member Andrew Parsons feels that India has "very good momentum as a nation" wanting to host the 2036 Games due to its economic growth and sporting progress.

Parsons, who is also the chief of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), said India has got "a very good start" in the 2036 Olympics bidding. As of now, Paralympics will also be held in the Olympic host country till 2032.

"Well, as President of the IPC and as a member of the IOC Future Host Commission, I should not be talking about chances. But, I think India has a very good momentum as a nation," Parsons said at a press conference here.

"In terms of where you have been growing economically, as a society, but also in the area of sport, I just think you have a very good momentum," added the Brazillian who was recently elected as IPC chief for his third and final term in the General Assembly in Seoul.

Parsons, who is here to witness the World Para Athletics Championships which the India is hosting for the first time, was also impressed with the commitment and strong push from the central government in wanting to host the 2036 Olympics.

"What I do see is a country that is very committed to sport, that wants to host the Games. You have a very solid backing from the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi). I was here in the IOC session two years ago (in Mumbai) when he was already saying that the country is going for the event in 2036.

"The backing and the push of your number one leader is something very important to have. Talking about experience, being a Brazilian and hosting the Games in Rio (in 2016), it was important to have the support of the head of the country.

"So when you have the Prime Minister so engaged and so openly discussing the vision of India, I think it's a very good start." India's bid to host the 2036 Olympics is in the 'Continuous Dialogue' phase with the IOC's Future Host Commission, of which Parsons is a member.

New IOC President Kirsty Coventry has, however, paused the selection process and formed a working group to figure out the "appropriate time" to identify a future host.

'Cricket quite far from making Paralympics' ========================== Cricket in T20 format has been included in the roster of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics but Parsons feels that the game is still some time away from making the Paralympics.

"The sport programme for LA (Paralympics) in 2028 is already decided. It does not include cricket. Of course, we are starting the process for selecting the sport for 2032 Brisbane Paralympic Games," said Parsons.

"At the moment, we are aware of some initiatives what I would call Para-cricket around the world, many of them from India. But they are not relevant yet in terms of number of athletes, quadrennial, international calendar and so on.

"It (India) is a country that's in love with cricket. So we may see in future that it (cricket) can apply to be part of Paralympic Games. But we are very far from that in my opinion." He said cricket does not still have international competitions like the world championships where many countries compete.

"I'm not the one doing this analysis, but from the information I have, we are still far. We don't have world championships (in cricket). We don't have many countries competing internationally." Asked how the IPC can work closely with the Indian government, he said, "I had discussions with the Minister of Sport yesterday about a better way for IPC to support the growth of Paralympic sport here in India.

"Obviously, you have a very strong Paralympic community. You have good support from own government. But of course, we can always provide some support, specific programmes, make sure that international organizations are aware of the appetite of India to grow Paralympic sport and parasport. So there are multiple ways.

"We had good discussions about the centres that you have around the country. We spoke about some good things for the future in terms of possibilities of working together. But we don't have any announcement to make yet. But this is a work in progress.

"We have four years contract with the World Para-athletics. So we will bring big WPA events to India. This is the biggest event outside of Paralympic Games. So maybe that's the next step for you." PTI PDS PM PDS PM PM