RIL, IOA to host India’s first house at Paris Olympics 2024

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) have partnered to set up the first-ever India House at Paris Olympics 2024. In the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics, India will host the 140th prestigious IOC Session in June 2023 at the state-of-the-art Jio World Centre in Mumbai. The 2024 Paris Olympics will see India’s first house.

The company says the tie-up will help India in achieving the goal of hosting the Olympic Games in future. It’ll also help elevate the performances of Indian athletes, support the national sports federations and build the credentials of India as a global sporting nation.

RIL as IOA's principal partner will support Indian athletes in major multi-sport events, including the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the Olympics Games. In addition, it will also help set up India’s first Olympic House at Paris 2024 Olympics; the Olympic hospitality houses are a games tradition.

As per IOC member and RIL director Nita Ambani, the partnership with the IOA reinforces Reliance Foundation’s commitment to supporting and empowering young athletes with world-class infrastructure and opportunities. "We are also very excited to host the first-ever India House at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. It will be a great opportunity to showcase India’s immense talent, potential, and aspiration to the world!”

IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta says it will be a momentous occasion to have an India house in Paris 2024. "This is a giant step in reiterating India’s commitment to the Olympic Movement.”

Nations from across the world strengthen their Olympic Movement involvement during the Olympic Games, with the official Olympic Hospitality House that gives the fans and travellers a vision and an understanding of the country. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, over 50 nations had set up their country-specific Hospitality House.

The IOC Session, which coincides with the 75th year of Independence, will highlight the role of sport in India and celebrate the contribution of India to the Olympic Movement.

Besides, in May 2022, India’s first ‘Olympic Values Education Programme’ (OVEP) was launched in Odisha. The OVEP is a practical set of resources designed by the IOC to introduce young people to the Olympic values of excellence, respect, and friendship.

Meanwhile, the much-anticipated Commonwealth Games 2022 are starting in Birmingham, U.K., from today. Indian ace shuttler and Olympic medalist P.V. Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, has been selected as Team India's flagbearer at the global sporting event. Indian men's hockey captain Manpreet Singh will be the second flagbearer at the CWG 2022 opening ceremony.

The 24-year-old Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, who was earlier supposed to lead Team India's contingent, has missed the opportunity to participate in the global event after he sustained a "minor" groin strain. The injury occurred during his silver medal-winning campaign in the World Championships in the United States. Chopra had decided to pull out of the CWG 2022 after the advice of his medical team.

"I am especially disappointed about losing out on the opportunity to be Team India's flag bearer at the opening ceremony, an honour I was looking forward to having in a few day's time,” he says in a social media post.

India has a 215-member contingent this time, with sports stars like PV Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu, Nikhat Zareen, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, and Bajrang Punia, among others.