India Moves Step Closer To Hosting 2038 Asian Games After Submitting Official Expression Of Interest To OCA

New Delhi: India has officially submitted its expression of interest to host the 2038 Asian Games, a top official of the national Olympic body said, marking a significant step in the country's broader strategy to become a global hub for major multi-sporting events.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has recently submitted its Expression of Interest (EOI) to host the 2038 Games to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The continental Olympic body discussed India's EOI at its executive board meeting on April 21 in the Chinese city of Sanya, where the Asian Beach Games began from April 22.

"Yes, we have submitted an EOI and it was discussed by the OCA in its executive board meeting," IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer told PTI on Friday.

India will host the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad which is also the proposed city for the country's 2036 Olympics bid. The Gujarat city could yet again be a strong candidate to host the 2038 Asian Games, if the country wins the bid.

"It's only an Expression of Interest (as of) now. They (OCA) had an initial discussion and they will tell us what to do going ahead," Iyer said.

"There is no deadline for submission of bids (as such)." Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh will host the 2030 Asian Games while Doha, Qatar, will stage the 2034 edition of the sporting extravaganza. Both the 2030 and 2034 editions of the Asian Games were awarded together in 2020 by the OCA. The 2026 edition will be held in Aichi-Nagoya in Japan from September 19 to October 4.

South Korea is the first country to have expressed its interest to host the 2038 edition of the Asian Games, way back in 2021, with Gwangju and Daegu as the proposed cities.

Mongolia has also reportedly expressed its interest to bid for the 2038 edition but it is not known whether it has submitted an official EOI to the OCA.

An OCA official said that the host city of the 2038 Asian Games is likely to be decided in 2028.

"It (the award of 2038 Asian Games) is likely to be done in two years' time," said the official.

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India last hosted an Asian Games in 1982 in New Delhi. The national capital city was also the venue of the inaugural Asian Games in 1951.

Asian Games, competed among 45 nations of the continent, is the largest multi-sport event in the world with more than 10,000 athletes taking part in it.

The Asian Games are even bigger than the Olympics in terms of the number of participating athletes and number of competing sports, though less number of countries are in the fray. The last Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023 saw more than 11,000 athletes competing in 40 sports.