India renews pressure to bid for 2019 Asiad

GUANGZHOU, China — India's Olympic chiefs stepped up pressure on their reluctant government to accept a proposal to bid for the Asian Games in 2019.The sports ministry earlier this month turned down the bidding request from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) following the chaotic and controversial build-up to October's Commonwealth Games in New Delh.As the government probed allegations of corruption swirling around the Games, IOA president and chief organiser Suresh Kalmadi was forced to resign his senior post in India's ruling Congress party.Kalmadi quit as secretary of the Congress parliamentary party earlier this month amid public criticism for the soaring costs, shoddy planning, and graft allegations that tainted the October event.IOA secretary-general Randhir Singh said the government will once again be requested to accept the bid for the 2019 Asiad already lying with the sports ministry."I don't know why the government is sitting on the bid document submitted by the IOA for approval," Singh told Indian reporters ahead of Friday's opening ceremony for the 2010 Asiad in Guangzhou.New Delhi lost the bid for the 2014 Games to the South Korean city of Incheon, but Singh said the same document could be used for the 2019 bid as well.Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand are the other likely candidates and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) will decide the winner of the 2019 bid in Tokyo next July.Singh, who also serves as the OCA secretary-general, said the Asian body had given India time till mid-February to make a fresh bid.Indian officials plan to send a copy of Guangzhou's successful bid document to the government to buttress their case, Singh said."The Guangzhou organisers expect to make 450 million dollars after spending 420 million dollars on the preparations, excluding the infrastructure costs," he said.India already has the necessary infrastructure which was built for the Commonwealth Games and only a few more stadiums needed to be built, Singh added."We have nine years to prepare for the Games i

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