Confident of measuring up to the revamped Olympic host selection process of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), first-time bidder India will be reaching out to the IOC through “various channels” to build its case. India, in 2024, submitted a letter of intent to host the 2036 Games in Ahmedabad. The host selection process was then put on hold in 2025 by new IOC president Kirsty Coventry, who formed a working group to reassess the entire mechanism. Earlier this month, the new host selection process was unveiled and approved by an IOC session. The host of the 2036 Games will be known in mid-2029, and India’s negotiations will be led by the Indian Olympic Association in collaboration with the Gujarat government.
“We cannot reach out to IOC members individually at a governmental level, but there are various other channels through which we can start building our case,” said a well-placed source without elaborating further.
The IOC has added a Strategic Dialogue phase between the Continuous Dialogue and the final Targeted Dialogue with interested parties. During the Strategic Dialogue phase, the candidate nations will have to provide “core financial guarantees”, among other requirements.
The candidate cities will also have to meet criteria related to cost control and provide clear timelines for the completion of project milestones, among other aspects. India is currently in the Continuous Dialogue stage.
Under the new process, interested parties from the Continuous Dialogue pool will enter the Strategic Dialogue phase in 2027. India faces its biggest competition from Qatar, while bids are also expected from Turkey and South Africa.
The Future Host Commission will also make site visits to the proposed host cities. After the Strategic Dialogue phase, the Targeted Dialogue will begin in 2028.
At the end of the Targeted Dialogue, IOC members will receive a report from the Future Host Commission. Following this, in mid-2029, the IOC Executive Board will select preferred hosts to be “put forward for election by the IOC Session to become the host of the 2036 Olympic Games.”
Amended anti-doping bill in Monsoon Session
The amended National Anti-Doping Bill, which seeks to criminalise the trafficking and distribution of prohibited substances to athletes with a jail term of up to five years, is set to be tabled in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.
The public consultation process, for which the amended bill was posted online until June 18, has been completed. The Monsoon Session of Parliament begins on July 20.
“Efforts would be made to table it in Parliament during the upcoming session,” the ministry source said.
The amendments would ensure that even medical practitioners are targeted if they knowingly prescribe banned drugs.
Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has repeatedly stated that criminalising the organised supply of banned drugs is a necessity.
India has topped WADA’s global list of dope offenders for the past three years.
The new amendment is similar to the one proposed in 2018. At that time, a jail term of four years and a fine of Rs 2 lakh were proposed for organised crime syndicates and anyone found guilty of supplying banned substances to athletes.
However, the landmark provisions were scrapped from the bill that was eventually passed in 2022 and amended last year, as the government favoured the idea of “preventive legislation rather than criminal legislation.
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