2030 Commonwealth Games in India will be a very important moment: Coe

bombay: domain Athletics chairwoman Sebastian Coe said the 2030 Commonwealth Games in republic of india testament come as a “very important moment” -- both for the country’s hosting ambitions and for the promotion of athletics.

Ahmedabad was officially confirmed recently as the hosts of the centenary edition of the Games. India last hosted the CWG in 2010 in New Delhi, when Coe recalled witnessing packed evening sessions for track and field.

India bid to host the 2030 CWG after the 2026 edition ran into troubled waters, with its original hosts Victoria pulling out. Glasgow came in as a late replacement and a truncated programme with many key sports axed, although athletics remains a core sport in it.

“The Commonwealth Games in 2030 will be a very important moment, particularly in the promotion of track,” Coe said in a virtual select media interaction on Tuesday.

“Athletics is one of the new core sports for the Commonwealth Games. It’s been a re-engineered format, which I think is also good. Commonwealth Games did need to do that. It probably wouldn’t have chosen the circumstances under which it has re-formatted, but nonetheless, I think that’s been a good exercise.

“But, yes, the (2030) Commonwealth Games will be important and I really welcome them in India.”

India is set to bring back a lot of the axed sports for its home event. Leading into it and for the country’s ambitions to also bring the 2036 Olympics to its shores, Ahmedabad has hosted, or is seeking to host, a number of elite level tournaments across sports -- from swimming to weightlifting to wrestling.

In a World Athletics press release when Ahmedabad was announced as 2030 CWG hosts, Coe was quoted as saying that “the country is already expressing interest in hosting major global athletics events, and the long-term aspiration to host a World Athletics Championships”.

A World Athletics Continental Tour silver level meet will be held in India next year, in Bhubaneswar.

“Of course, we do want to encourage more of our events to take place in India,” Coe said on Tuesday.

“India is an important market for us. It has a lot of unpacked, untapped potential. Track and field is becoming more popular in India, partly driven by some of the outstanding performances of (Neeraj) Chopra. And look, the opportunity to stage our events for commercial and for participatory reasons in a growing market, that’s got to be a good thing.

“We’ve had lengthy discussions with the Indian federation (AFI) and even some commercial partners about extending that footprint.”

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