India aims to put on 'best-ever' world championships as Olympic ambitions take shape

BENGALURU, Oct 9 - The Cycling Federation of India is boldly promising the "best-ever" Road World Championships when Pune hosts the 2032 edition, hoping it can cement the country's emergence as a destination for world-class sport and boost its 2036 Olympics bid.

Having successfully conducted the first multi-stage road race in India with the Pune Grand Tour in January, the western Indian city is now keen to prove it can host races above the International Cycling Union's lowest tier.

The opportunity arrived as something of a surprise when the CFI were invited to address the UCI earlier this year, a meeting at which they hoped only to get the Pune Grand Tour upgraded.

"The world championships weren't on our agenda at all when we went there," CFI Secretary General Maninder Pal Singh told Reuters in a video call.

"When we presented to the management committee, the president of UCI, David Lappartient, himself came out with the idea.

"He said, 'you're doing so well. We've seen the growth of Indian cycling, especially from 2012. It's been phenomenal. Now I think you're ready to host a world championships.' Our first reaction was, 'of course, we would love to.'

"It all had to be done very, very quickly, because the UCI congress was just a couple of months away."

Pune was confirmed as the host city of the world championships at the congress in Montreal in September.

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF INDIA

Despite India's relative inexperience when it comes to hosting major cycling tournaments, and logistical challenges like underdeveloped infrastructure and poor traffic management, Singh did not hold back on his ambitions for the world championships.

"It'll be even more special because of the challenges that our country already has," Singh said, adding that getting roads ready and explaining the nuances of the event to common people were particular points of focus.

"This is going to be the best world championships. When I make this statement, I truly believe it because of the work that we're doing.

"In the past decade, we've attended just about every world championships that have been there. We see what we're capable of, what we can pull off. We're very, very confident."

Pune's hosting rights were granted just a few weeks before India was named as one of the nations alongside Germany, Qatar, Hungary, Turkey, South Africa and South Korea in the running to stage the 2036 Olympics.

A series of controversies at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which included fears that stray dogs would attack cyclists, have muddied India's reputation as hosts.

However, the Indian Olympic Association told Reuters this week that the 2036 bid, centred around the city of Ahmedabad, is at the heart of an effort to transform the country into a sporting superpower.

Singh said he was confident that cycling would play a part.

"If we pull off a successful event, that affects the world's perception and how they see India as a host nation," Singh said.

"The timing is such that we've just started the bidding process for the Olympics, and then you have the news that India is going to host the 2032 cycling world championships.

"For the next six years, every year you're going to see some development or the other leading up to the world championships, so I think that's going to help us, as a nation, put forward a stronger case for the 2036 Olympics." REUTERS