Having been a member of the Olympic Council of Asia since 1991, Raja Randhir Singh will finally assume charge as its president at its 44th General Assembly on Sunday.
And the veteran sports administrator is confident of Yoga passing the final approval to become a recognised sport at the Asian Games on the occasion.
“Every country works hard to promote their sports - China did for wushu, Japan for karate, we also brought in kabaddi in 1990. Now, Yoga has already been approved by the OCA sports committee and the executive board and hopefully on the 8th, I am confident of Yoga being recognised as an Asian Games sport. But I don’t think it is an Indian event any more; Yoga has become a world sport.
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“There are discussions on possibly medal events each for men and women and we have also brought in a points system, like gymnastics, to judge the asanas, make it more systematic and streamlined. It will be a demo sport in 2026 and become a competitive one after 2030,” Randhir told Sportstar in a wide-ranging exclusive interaction here on Thursday.
Support for Asian Games, Olympics bid
The 77-year old, who has been the acting president of OCA since 2021, has also backed India’s ambitions of hosting the 2036 Olympics but declared that there was more to hosting events than just the Olympics, encouraging the Indian officials to aim for the Asian Games as well.
“It is definitely possible for India to host the 2036 Olympics with the government keen on it. I feel we are capable of it and it will be good for India. But it won’t be easy, a lot will depend on the actual bid. Saudi Arabia hasn’t officially confirmed yet but they are in the pipeline. Qatar is very keen on bidding and Istanbul is half-Asia, so that’s four from the continent vying. Also, don’t forget that Qatar has already had successful world events – the World Athletics and Aquatics Championships with the FIFA World Cup being the icing on the cake, spending twice of what hosting a normal Olympics costs. It will also be hosting the 2030 Asian Games. Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 edition, plus the 2029 Winter Asiad. It was allotted the World E-Sports Games this year and it will be ready to do it in 2025. So, good luck to the IOC!” he quipped.
Singh will be the third member of his family to head the continental federation, after Yadvindra Singh, the founder president of the erstwhile Asian Games Federation, and his father Bhalindra Singh, but the first since it was revamped as the OCA in 1982.
“When I first became secretary in 1991, with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah as the president, we had zero in our accounts because all documents were destroyed in the Iraq-Kuwait war. From there to becoming the strongest and richest continental body has been quite a journey and one that I am proud of. We hold five multi-discipline events, we have managed to build world-class infrastructure in many places and with Asiad hosting rights in place till 2034, there is organisational stability, economic heft and most importantly unity because that’s where our strength lies,” he stressed.
On India hosting the Asiad – It last did in 1982 – Singh was supportive. “Today, winning medals is as important as simply hosting an event and at the last Games, we won over 100. So, the benefit of hosting Asian Games will be to do that at home and it will be great for Indian sports but it depends on the government and the IOA,” he insisted.
The OCA president-designate, in fact, pushed for the country to bid for the Winter Games as well.
“Unlike Saudi Arabia, we don’t have to build a new city – we have the slopes higher up in Uttarakhand and Himachal, there is a beautiful but defunct ice skating rink in Dehradun. I advised the IOA to bid for 2025 but they didn’t show any interest. Not just sports, the amount of tourism benefits will be tremendous,” he insisted.
Appreciate athlete support, critical of tenure limits
Asked about India’s performance at the Paris Olympics, Singh was optimistic. “I have heard a lot of criticism about the medal tally. But we need to remember that even those who didn’t win were not languishing at the bottom like before, there were so many fourth place finishes and semifinalists, which shows the base is strengthening. And it will get better in the coming years because there is no lack of support or funds from the government,” he declared.
The one thing he was critical about was the tenure limit in the national sports code for administrators, citing his own example as proof of longer presence being necessary at the international level.
“No one becomes president of a national body straightaway, you climb through the ranks. And you need your people in international federations, in the IOC, to help grow as a sport. I have been in the OCA since 1991 and have become president now. I feel a 12-year limit is too little for any administrator,” he said.
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