Mumbai(India): India’s most valuable company, Reliance, said it would support its athletes in significant multi-sport events as part of a long-term partnership with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
The second most populous country in the world is Olympics backward. The seven medals her team won at the Tokyo Games last year were the best Olympic achievement for the 1.35 billion nation.
As part of the deal, the group, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, will become a vital partner of the IOA and help the country’s sports federations and athletes prepare for events such as the Olympics and Asian and Commonwealth Games.
The partnership has “an aspiration to host the Olympic Games in the future”, the company said in a statement.
Reliance director Nita Ambani, wife of Mukesh Ambani, leads the oil-to-telecoms conglomerate’s philanthropic arm, Reliance Foundation, and is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the world governing body for the Olympics.
“It is our dream to see India take centre stage in the global sporting arena,” she said. This year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou were pushed back to 2023 due to pandemics in China. The Commonwealth Games will kick off in Glasgow on Thursday.
Indian financial capital Mumbai was picked to host the 2023 IOC session this year.
The IOA, however, is facing the threat of a ban from the IOC over governance-related issues if the national body fails to hold pending elections in the “coming weeks”.