2036 Olympics bid takes pan-India route: Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Pune

Hockey in Bhubaneswar, rowing in Bhopal, canoeing and kayaking in Pune, cricket in Mumbai.Although Ahmedabad remains the focal point of India’s bid to host the 2036 Olympics, there have been deliberations at multiple levels in the government and bureaucracy to make the Games “a movement for the full country” taking some sports to cities outside Gujarat, The Indian Express has learnt.
With India in “continuous dialogue” with the International Olympic Council’s Future Hosts Commission, after submitting a Letter of Intent to host the 2036 Olympics last October, the proposal will soon be shared with the global body.
“This is something in the making. How the final picture will look, none of us know right now. We will make a plan and present it to the IOC. Based on those conversations, decisions will be taken,” an official said. “We want to take the sports to other parts of India and make it a movement for the full country.”
Sports infrastructure projects worth over Rs 6,000 crore are in the pipeline as Ahmedabad mounts an aggressive bid to host the Olympics. Officials said these projects “will go ahead, irrespective of whether India’s bid for the Games is successful”.
“The Olympics can be a motivating factor, but these are aimed for the larger public good in terms of health and recreation as well as making the city a destination for international sports,” the official said.
One such ongoing project, set to be opened to elite athletes and the public in March, is the Naranpura Sports Complex here. Spread over 20.39 acres, the multi-purpose facility — built at a cost of approximately Rs 631.77 crore — will house an Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool, basketball, volleyball and badminton courts, gymnastics, kabaddi, wrestling and taekwondo arenas, table-tennis room, and a centre of excellence for all these sports.
Over 1,000 labourers are working on a war footing to ready the venue. The ear-piercing noise of the drilling machine, with the accompanying clang of the hammer, breaks the silence of the mid-winter afternoon. A puff of dust here, the arid smell of paint there. A labourer, working aloft on a crane, provides finishing touches to the facade. Down on the ground, a gardener shuffles soil for planting.
When it is inaugurated, the Naranpura Sports Complex will be showcased as a part of the grand infra plan vis-a-vis the 2036 Olympics, before the focus shifts to the two main hubs — the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Sports Enclave, a 355-acre area adjacent to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, and Karai Sports Hub, with a “site area of 143 acres, augmented reclaimed riverfront”.
In December, Gujarat Olympic Planning and Infrastructure Limited floated a tender inviting bids to appoint consultants for developing these two projects.
According to the tender document, the SVP will include the Narendra Modi Stadium, a multi-purpose indoor arena, aquatics and tennis centres as permanent venues. “For the duration of the Games, the enclave will also feature temporary venues” for volleyball, 3×3 basketball, sport climbing and urban sports.
Athletics will be held in Karai, where a 35,000-seater stadium will be constructed, with the scope of additional temporary seating during the Games. The Karai Police Academy will house the shooting complex.
The deadline to complete the project is 2028.
The Indian Express had earlier reported that a slew of international multidisciplinary events and major continental, Commonwealth and world-level tournaments across Olympic sports are being targeted to help the state gain hosting experience.
India has already bid to host the 2028 World U20 Athletics Championships, the 2028 Asian Swimming Championship, the Youth Olympics in 2030 and the World Police and Military Games.
“It’s not as if we are directly aspiring for the Olympics. We want to host other events also to test our ability, learn how to conduct largescale sporting events…These projects will take place regardless of whether India wins the bid to host the 2036 Olympics,” an official said. “The Olympics isn’t the only goal, although it can be a motivator for major infrastructure projects.”
Those involved in the process believe India’s demography, the fact that the Games haven’t been hosted yet in this part of the world, and the growing economy can work in the country’s favour.
However, the challenge posed the adminrative paralysis with the Indian Olympic Association, with president PT Usha at loggerheads with the executive committee, is seen as a “red flag”. The IOA — and not the state or central governments — is responsible for engaging in dialogue with the IOC, a process where India has lagged so far.
Officials acknowledged that the prolonged IOA mess “does not give international stakeholders a lot of confidence”, as pointed out the world body earlier. “The earlier it is solved, the better it is for India’s reputation,” the official said.
Besides the internal challenges, India will also have to counter other bidders, especially Qatar and Saudi Arabia who have also expressed interest in hosting the 2036 edition and have not shied away from using their financial might to land major events, as seen in the case of the FIFA World Cup.
According to the IOC, at least 10 other countries have shown interest in hosting the 2036 edition of the quadrennial event, the earliest available slot after Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane 2032. A decision on the host city is unlikely before 2026.

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