Ahmedabad to host centenary Commonwealth Games in 2030

LONDON (AFP): The Indian city of Ahmedabad will stage the 2030 multi-sport Commonwealth Games 100 years after the inaugural edition was held in Hamilton, Canada, it was confirmed on Wednesday.

The choice of Ahmedabad, also known as Amdavad, was ratified by the Commonwealth Sport General Assembly in Glasgow following a recommendation from the executive board.

India has its eyes on a bigger prize, having submitted a formal letter of intent last year to the International Olympic Committee to host the 2036 Summer Olympics.“We are deeply honoured by the trust shown by Commonwealth Sport,” said Dr PT Usha, president of the Commonwealth Games Association of India.

“The 2030 Games will not only celebrate 100 years of the Commonwealth movement but also lay the foundation for the next century. It will bring together athletes, communities and cultures from across the Commonwealth in a spirit of friendship and progress.”

Ahmedabad is the key city in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, home to a 130,000-seater arena which is the world’s biggest cricket stadium. The venue is named after the Indian premier.

Modi said he was “delighted” and that India looks “forward to welcoming the world”.

The executive board announced in October that Ahmedabad was its preferred choice following a rival bid from Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.

Ahmedabad is the second Indian city to stage the Commonwealth Games, following Delhi in 2010, which was meant to showcase India’s status as an emerging global power.

However, they were marred instead by construction delays, budget overruns and corruption allegations that saw the head of the organising committee jailed.

The future existence of the event was in doubt last year when the movement struggled to find a replacement host for 2026 after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew for cost reasons.

Daniel Andrews, the then premier of Victoria, said two years ago that an initial estimate of Aus $2 billion (US $1.29 billion) needed to hold the Games would more likely be around Aus $7 billion, which he called “well and truly too much”.

The Scottish city of Glasgow stepped in and will stage a slimmed-down version of the multi-sport format, meaning that Britain will have hosted two editions in a row, after Birmingham in 2022.

In an age of increasing continental, regional and world championships across numerous sports, there have long been questions about the relevance of the Commonwealth Games, an event restricted to an international association where the vast majority of competing countries were once territories of the British Empire.

‘Passion and relevance’

But Dr Donald Rukare, president of Commonwealth Sport, said on Wednesday: “India brings scale, youth, ambition, rich culture, enormous sporting passion and relevance, and I’m delighted to report strong interest from a range of nations to host the 2034 Games and beyond.

“We start our next century for the Commonwealth Games in good health.”

Commonwealth Sport added between 15 to 17 sports will feature at the 2030 Games, which follows a programme review.

Athletics and para-athletics, swimming and para-Swimming, table tennis and para table tennis, bowls and para bowls, weightlifting and para powerlifting, artistic gymnastics, netball and boxing have all been included.

The remainder of the programme is set to be finalised, with Ahmedabad able to either propose up to two new or “traditional” sports.

Among those under consideration are T20 cricket, hockey, wrestling, badminton archery, rugby sevens, 3x3 basketball, cycling and diving.

A successful Commonwealth Games would strengthen any bid by India, the world’s most populous nation, to stage an Olympic Games, with the next two Summer editions set for Los Angeles (2028) and the Australian city of Brisbane (2032).