"Waste of time and money!" - Fans left unimpressed with news of India's desire to host the 2036 Summer Olympics
A substantial chunk of online sports fans have questioned India's desire to host the 2036 Summer Olympics.
On Saturday, October 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that the country is hoping to host the quadrennial event for the first time ever in 2036. He said that India remains fully committed to making this dream a reality.
If successful, India would become only the fourth Asian country to host the Games, after Japan, South Korea, and China.
“India eagerly anticipates hosting the Olympics and the country will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to organise the 2036 Olympics. It’s a dream and aspiration of 140 crore Indians,” PM Modi said (via The Hindu).
Fans, however, did not share the Prime Minister's enthusiasm, with many wondering why India was looking to host the Olympics. One fan stated that Israel and Germany's combined bid to host the Olympics in 2036 will get the most support from Western nations.
"Israel and Germany are putting a combined bid for 2036 Olympics. Given the current geopolitical situation, their bid is gonna get support from the west," said one fan.
Another fan noted that India will be better off using the money required to host the Olympics to invest in grassroots development.
"I hope India doesn't win this but IOC would be happy to grant them if India commits billions of dollars of investment which they would. Instead, they should invest this money on grassroots to increase the medal count to at least 50 & then think about hosting, which would make sense," noted one fan.
One user noted that India cannot attract fans to Olympic events where Indians will not compete for the medals. The lack of fans at non-Indian matches at the ongoing ODI World Cup was used as an example to back up the claim.
"Can India really attract locals for non-Indian medal events? #CWC23 has shown Ahmedabad cannot. Or are we aiming to be strong contenders in every event of #Olympics2036," read one post.
Here are a few more fan reactions to the news of India's interest in hosting the 2036 Olympic games: