International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach on Friday held a key press conference ahead of the October 15-17 IOC Session in Mumbai, during which he praised the “fantastic job” done by IOC member Nita Ambani and her team in boosting the Olympic and sporting movement in India.
“Nita Ambani and her team have done a fantastic job… We are looking forward to the opening ceremony of the 141st IOC Session tomorrow night, which will show once more that the Olympic spirit in India is growing. I experienced this spirit when I went with Nita Ambani to the Reliance Foundation where kids from underprivileged families are given access to sports,” Bach said.
The state-of-the-art Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai will host the 141st session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from October 15 to 17, 2023. The IOC session is returning to India after a gap of 40 years. New Delhi had hosted the 86th edition of the IOC session in 1983.
Talking of India’s growing sports prowess, Bach said: “We saw the great performance of Team India at Asian Games. India is also No.2 when it comes to followers. There is particular interest among the young generation in Olympic games,” he added.
At the press conference, Bach also announced the establishment of the pilot hubs that will be overseen by an International Safe Sport Task Force that will include representatives from sport, intergovernmental organisations, and civil society.
“These hubs will provide the athletes with independent guidance, psychosocial support, legal aid, and any other help that they may need through existing services, available locally, in the athletes’ own language, with an understanding of their culture and local context. The IOC Executive Baord approved the establishment of two pilot regional safeguarding hubs in Southern Africa and the Pacific Islands and to support the initial work for a European safeguarding hub,” Bach added.
On Thursday, Bach had shared his experience of visiting the Reliance Foundation Young Champs Academy in Navi Mumbai.
“I had a visit together with our IOC colleague and friend Nita Ambani to their Reliance Foundation and the programmes they’re offering there to the kids and youth with regard to sport and education. I’m really deeply impressed by Reliance and her team because you see kids from all over India in this centre. And most of them are coming from underprivileged families and they are being offered education and schooling. But at the same time, they are given the opportunity to train and to prepare for becoming an athlete, a high-level athlete,” Bach had said.
He had said the approach of Reliance Foundation and its chairperson and IOC member Nita Ambani is an exact reflection of the Olympic values.
“This is something that exactly reflects our Olympic values and our approach, which we have in our strategies. But to see it on such a scale and being done, you know, by a private entity, which is the Reliance Foundation, guided by our colleague – that’s really very, very impressive and very encouraging also for the future of sport, of Olympic sport in India.”
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