Big blow to India, IOC suspends talks for hosting future games

New Delhi: The International Olympic Committee, on Thursday, suspended all Indian applications to host future events, while, ISSF withdrew all the 16 Olympic quotas allotted to New Delhi World Cup after two Pakistanis shooters were denied visas to compete in the national capital.

The announcement was made by the International Shooting Sport Federation president Vladimir Lisin during his address to the season-opening World Cup at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range.

"Since becoming aware of the issue, and in spite of intense last-minute ... efforts ... and discussions with the Indian government authorities, no solution has been found to allow the Pakistani delegation to enter India in time to compete," the IOC statement said.

"As a result, the IOC Executive Board also decided to suspend all discussions with the Indian NOC and government regarding the potential applications for hosting future sports and Olympic-related events in India," it said.

The organisation also urged all international sports federations not to hold events in India, or grant hosting rights to the country for future competitions, until the government had provided "clear written guarantees" to ensure access for all athletes.

Pakistan shooters’ participation in the tournament was opposed by India to protest against the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, killing more than 45 CRPF personnel on February 14. India has been accusing Pakistan of not doing enough to control its terrorists groups as they often pull out terror attacks on India. However, Pakistan has denied any involvement in Pulwama attack.

The shooters were scheduled to participate in the 25m pistol event.

The ISSF said on Wednesday it faced "an urgent situation as Pakistani athletes cannot get entry visas to participate in the competition" in the aftermath of the Kashmir attack.

"The IOC restricted the withdrawal of recognition as an Olympic qualification event to the 25m rapid fire pistol competition in which the two Pakistani athletes were supposed to participate," it said.

"This happened in the interest of the other 500 athletes from 61 countries participating in the other events who are already in India for their competition."

The Indian Olympic Association had already laid out its ambitious plans to host the Youth Olympics in 2026, the Asian Games in 2030 and the Summer Olympics for the first time in 2032.