National Games will be held in Gujarat in Sept-Oct this year: IOA

The IOA took the decision of hosting the National Games 2022 in Gujarat

Postponed several times due to different reasons, the National Games will be held in multiple cities in Gujarat in September-October this year, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Secretary General Rajiv Mehta told PTI on Wednesday.

The IOA took the decision after Gujarat Olympic Association and the state government jointly expressed their interest to host the Games.

"The Gujarat government wrote to us that it backs the expression of interest of the state Olympic Association to host the Games and we are happy to accept their proposal," Mr. Mehta told PTI.

"The Games will be held in five or six cities in Gujarat, including Ahmedabad in September-October. The exact dates will be announced after a few days. We are happy that the Games will be held after a lot of delay," he added.

Mr. Mehta said the IOA top brass took the decision in "quick time" because it wanted to stage the Games this year after multiple delays.

"The top brass has the power to take the decision and take approval of general house of the IOA later. In any case, we have taken approval of many NSFs and state bodies via email.

"We are also going to call a General Body Meeting to ratify some important decisions as well as the hosting of National Games. We are going to approach Delhi High Court and Supreme Court (where cases involving IOA are pending) to allow us to call a GBM," Mr. Mehta said.