Mumbai: IOC i.e. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach held a meeting of the IOC Executive Committee on Thursday before the IOC session on October 15-17 in Mumbai and during this he said that the Olympic spirit is awakening and growing in India. Not only this, he praised Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Ambani and said that her efforts in this regard are quite impressive. Actually, the IOC session is returning to India after a gap of 40 years. Earlier, New Delhi hosted the 86th edition of the IOC session in 1983.
The IOC Session is the supreme decision-making body of the Olympic Movement. That is, all important decisions related to the Olympics are taken in the IOC Session. It discusses and decides on the major activities of the Global Olympic Movement, including adopting or amending the Olympic Charter, electing IOC members and officials, and selecting the host city of the Olympics. The IOC Session currently has 99 voting and 43 honorary members.
IOC President Thomas Bach said on Thursday, “We can really see and feel that the Olympic spirit is awakening and growing in India. We are seeing very positive results from the Indian team winning a record number of medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. We can see on our Olympic social media platforms that India ranks second in terms of Olympic followers.”
He further said, ‘Along with our IOC colleague and friend Nita Ambani, I visited Reliance Foundation and saw the programs being offered there in relation to sports and education for children and youth and I must say that I am really impressed with what Reliance and their team is doing there, because you see that there are children from all over India in this center. Most of them are from underprivileged families.’
Thomas Bach further said, ‘Children are not only being given school education, but they are also being given the opportunity to train to become athletes. This is something that is absolutely reflecting our Olympic values and our vision. It is very, very impressive and very encouraging to see that this is being done by a private organization, i.e. Reliance Foundation.’
IOC President Bach further said, ‘And it also has the full support of the political authority. We had a meeting with the Chief Minister and his staff in Maharashtra and they too are in full support of the sports movement. So we are hopeful that we may get some positive signals from the IOA in the near future.’
An Indian delegation led by Nita Ambani, the first Indian woman to be elected as an IOC member, had put forward a proposal at the 139th IOC Session in Beijing in February 2022, after which Mumbai received overwhelming support in favour of its bid with 99% votes. Let us tell you that the IOC session will be held at the state-of-the-art Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai. The Jio World Convention Center located in the Bandra Kurla Complex in the middle of the city is India’s largest convention center and it has started in early 2022. The grand theater of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center will host the opening ceremony, while the IOC session will meet in the exhibition hall.
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Tags: IOC chief Olympics, IOC President, Nita Ambani, Reliance Foundation
FIRST PUBLISHED : October 12, 2023, 15:45 IST