India Begins Olympics 2036 Preparation, To Have 10 Olympic Training Centres: Sources

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) began its preparation for Olympics 2036 as India will have 10 Olympic training centres. According to sources, every centre will have one discipline and 150 athletes will be brought to them. The athletes will be chosen from Khelo India. The Khelo India Youth Games will take place in Bihar from 4th to 15th May with around 10,000 plus athletes taking part. The games will be taking place in different cities across Bihar and it will be have 28 sports in total.

Earlier, Newly-elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kristy Coventry was expectedly guarded on India's bid to stage the 2036 Games, saying she will reveal her "ideas" on the selection of future host in coming days.

The 41-year-old Coventry was elected president of the IOC on Thursday to become the first woman and first African to get the biggest job in world sports.

Asked if there is any chance of India's bid to be converted to "accelerated targeted dialogue" before incumbent president Thomas Bach leaves office on June 23, Coventry said, "At the end of the day there is a process in place and that process is ongoing and that will remain, as far as I know, for the next few months." "I do think that we need to involve the members in the selection of future host and I have few ideas and may be willing to share those, may be next week," she said at the press conference after her election.

She will take charge as IOC president from Bach on June 23, the Olympic Day, after three months of transition period.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has submitted the 'expression of interest' to the IOC's Future Host Commission to host the 2036 Games, taking the first concrete step in an ambitious plan after months of informal dialogue with the apex body.

More than 10 countries, including the likes of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have expressed interest to host the 2036 Olympics, though it is not known yet how many or which other nations have officially done that.

With the submission of 'Letter of Intent', India has progressed from 'Informal Dialogue' to the 'Continuous Dialogue' stage of the host election process. In this stage, the IOC conducts a 'feasibility study' of the progress of projects associated with the Games in the potential host.

The next phase of the process would be 'Targeted Dialogue', which would require the submission of an edition-specific formal bid, which would be assessed by the Future Host Commission. The process would finally end with a host election.

A decision on the 2036 host is unlikely to come before 2026. 

(With PTI inputs)