ATR Exclusive -- 2020 Too Soon to Bid, Says Indian IOC Member

(ATR) India’s IOC member tells Around the Rings 2020 is too soon for his country to make an Olympic bid.

"We are looking at Asian Games and looking at the Olympic Games," Raja Randhir Singh told ATR on the sidelines of the second Asian Beach Games in Muscat.

"I personally feel that India should bid for the 2019 Asian Games and then bid for maybe the Olympic Games in 2028."

Asked whether he thinks the bidding will play out as such, Singh was close-lipped.

"Well, hopefully," he said with a laugh, declining to speculate on the chances such bids would have, much less the odds they indeed materialize.

An Olympic Backstory

Many had viewed the recent Commonwealth Games in Delhi as a stepping stone to the subcontinent’s first Olympics.

Delhi 2010 organizing chief Suresh Kalmadi, also president of the Indian Olympic Association, has for years touted India 2020 after losing the 2014 Asian Games to South Korea.

Indian media reported in August that the IOA actually decided last year to push for 2020, a bid that seems somewhat less likely in the aftermath of the controversy-ridden Commonwealth Games.

On the eve of its closing ceremony, Kalmadi appeared to waver for the first time in his insistence on an Olympic follow-up to Delhi 2010.

Kalmadi’s stance then and Singh’s now are the same. The IOA is examining a potential bid, but any decision will be a joint one with the Indian government.

"We are still deciding," the IOC member told ATR. "We are looking at it."

As for the widespread allegations of contractors still owed money by Delhi 2010 and equipment still waiting to be exported back to owners, Singh said the wrap-up to the Commonwealth Games is going well but refused to elaborate, insisting the secretary general of the organizing committee, Lalit K. Bhanot, is in charge of tying up any loose ends that remain.

Slowly But Surely

Singh, also secretary general of both the Olympic Council of Asia and the IOA, hopes his countrymen don’tlet the afterglow of Delhi 2010 rush them into India 2020.

"2020 is too soon," he insisted.

"I would say the Asian Games in 2019 and then the Olympic Games another two [cycles] after that so that we can get our standards up."

In 110 years of Olympic participation, India has 20 total medals, 11 of them coming in field hockey, and last finished inside the top 20 of the medal tally at the 1932 Games.

But India hadn’t hosted the world’s third largest multi-sport event before October, and has never enjoyed the kind of streak the country is riding as of late.

India ranked third in total medals at Delhi 2010 but second in golds, its best-ever Commonwealth Games performance. A month later, the subcontinent again reaped a record medal haul, this time at the 16th Asian Games. Its 14 golds and 64 total medals in Guangzhou left India sixth in the final tally.

"Slowly our standard is coming up," Singh tells ATR. "To host the Games in India, standards should be good. We should try to make it in the top 10."

Keeping the Streak Alive

In the meantime, India is well on its way to another best-ever medal haul, this time at the Asian Beach Games in Oman. The subcontinent already boasts two medals at Muscat 2010, fast approaching the five won in Bali in 2008.

Friday was Singh’s last day at these Games as well as India’s brightest to date.

Tent pegger Jaswinder Singh took gold in the individual sword event, bettering the bronze he won Thursday in rings and pegs.

"It’s come out brilliant," the IOC member said in reference to both India’s performance thus far, and the Beach Games as a whole.

He said two medals in two days is a strong showing for a small delegation, one he hopes will continue to shine in his absence.

With reporting in Muscat by Matthew Grayson.