International Olympic Committee (IOC) president's post contender Sebastian Coe feels India's bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games is a "strong case" but competition will be tough with several other countries throwing their hats in the ring.
India has already submitted a 'Letter of Intent' to host the 2036 Olympics and Paralympic Games to the IOC's Future Host Commission, taking the first concrete step in an ambitious plan after months of informal dialogue with the global sport's apex body.
"Well, you won't be surprised given my background to say that I'm obviously very happy that India is committed to global sport and particularly the Olympic movement. I'm very happy to hear that.
"And look, it will be very competitive. It won't be the only bidder, but the case that it (India) can make is a very strong case," Coe told PTI in an exclusive interview.
Poland, Indonesia, South Africa, Qatar, Hungary, Turkey, Mexico and Egypt are among other countries which have expressed a desire to host the 2036 Olympics.
The 2036 Games host nation will not be known before 2026. But it is certain that the host will be chosen during the presidency of the winner of the March 20 election of the new IOC chief.
Coe, whose maternal grandfather is an Indian from Punjab, is considered the frontrunner among the seven candidates contesting for elections to succeed Thomas Bach as IOC president.
The 68-year-old Coe, a double Olympic 1500m gold medallist, also advised India to not end its ambition to organise the Olympics if it does not get the 2036 Games hosting rights.
"Plenty of cities have bid and lost and come back. Interestingly, when London won in 2005 (for the 2012 edition), it defeated Paris. We all have just been to the Paris Olympic Games (in 2024)," said the Briton, who is currently heading World Athletics.
"Rio was one of the cities that didn't make it past the initial evaluation for the 2012 bid. And they had the Games immediately after Britain in 2016.
"So it is by no means the end of the story. And even the legacy from bidding is an extremely strong legacy."
More than 100 members of the IOC will vote on March 20 in the Greek resort of Costa Navarino, where the 144th IOC Session will be held from March 18 to 21.
Besides Coe, the other six candidates are Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, David Lappartient of France, Johan Eliasch of Sweden, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr of Spain, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe and Morinari Watanabe of Japan.
Coe said South Asia, of which India is the major country, has the potential to help grow the Olympic movement further by bringing more young people to sport.
"I have witnessed in the last few years the growing importance of South Asia in athletics, and athletics is the centrepiece of Olympic movement.
"If you and I 10 years ago said to each other that the men's Olympic javelin title would be being fought between athletes from Pakistan and India, I think we both would have smiled at each other and moved on," he said referring to Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra winning gold and silver respectively in Paris.
"But it happened (in Paris Olympics), so there is a huge potential in Asia. What is really important here is we recognise that Asia and particularly South Asia has the real potential to help grow the movement and bring more young people into sport and into healthy lifestyles."
He, however, emphasised that a one size fits all approach will not work in all the Asian countries.
"Asia is a huge continent. There are large parts of Asia like China and Japan, from Qatar to the Philippines. And there is no one size fits all approach. You can't say that the development programmes you have for China are going to be the same as you're going to have in Bhutan. It just doesn't work like that," Coe said when asked about his blueprint for Asia if he is elected the IOC president.
"But I had a fascinating discussion with the honourable Narendra Modi, your prime minister. And the one thing we both agreed about was the absolute importance of using sport for health impacts," said Coe about his meeting with PM Modi during his visit to India last November.
"Young people, young communities, screen-based activities that are in some cases distracting young people from healthy lifestyles. One thing that he and I both agreed about is that a sports policy is probably the most effective investment in health, education, social cohesion and economy."
"So that's where I see the big contribution that Asia can make both to the Olympic movement but also to the health of its own communities."
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