India wins bid to host IOC session in 2023 after 40 years

India will host the 2023 International Olympic Committee's (IOC) session in Mumbai after successfully bidding for it at the 139th IOC session being held in Beijing on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics on Saturday.

This is a historic occasion as India hasn't hosted an IOC session for forty years, since 1983 in New Delhi.

The Indian delegation comprising IOC member Nita Ambani, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Dr Narinder Batra, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Mr Anurag Singh Thakur, and India's first individual Olympic gold medallist (Beijing 2008, shooting) Mr Abhinav Bindra, made the presentation to IOC members during the session.

"It is our ambition to host the Olympic Games in the future," said Nita Ambani during her presentation to the IOC.

"I truly believe India is on the verge of creating something very special with the Olympic Movement," she added. She also said part of India's proposal is also to have elite sports development programmes for local communities along side hosting the IOC session.

India getting hosting rights for the IOC session could be the first step towards India hosting the Olympics.

"We have chosen India because it is the second most populous nation in the world, with a very young population and a huge potential for Olympic sport," President Thomas Bach was quoted in an IOC statement earlier.

The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had recommended Mumbai as the venue to hold the 2023 IOC session after its evaluation commission was impressed by the facilities at the Jio World Centre.

The IOC session in India and related meetings will take place in May-June 2023. The election for the host country for the 2030 Winter Olympics and deciding the sports programme for the 2028 Summer Olympics are likely to be on the agenda at this session.