The team behind the Indian Commonwealth Games believe they will sell out the world’s biggest stadium in 2030.
The Narendra Modi Stadium – named after the country’s prime minister – is among the venues that have been commissioned for the next edition.
With a capacity of 132,000, the arena is more than ten times the size of Scotstoun, which is hosting the track and field events in Glasgow this week.
Scotland have been forced to stage a scaled-down Games, having only agreed to host the competition in 2024, when Australia embarrassingly pulled out due to blown budgets.
India are keen to showcase their hosting abilities as they launch a bid to host the 2036 Olympics.
‘We’re going to go full hog for all the 2030 games,’ Rohit Rajpal, India’s Chef de Mission, told Daily Mail Sport.
Indian officials behind the 2030 Commonwealth Games have vowed to sell out the 132,000 capacity Narendra Modi Stadium as they pledge to deliver a full scale event
Cricket is set to feature on the programme with ambitions to attract some of the country’s biggest stars
‘You’re going to see the largest scale games. We have fantastic arenas. We have the biggest stadium in the world, with more than 100,000 capacity.
‘For sure we will sell out. We have 1.4 billion people in India, come on.
‘As a country we are hungry for all sport and entertainment. Our stadiums are full for all sports. We sold out the Asia Cup volleyball recently and we had to turn away thousands of people because we couldn’t accommodate them.’
Ahmedabad, Gujarat will be the host region and they plan to expand the number of events back to 17 sports.
Cricket is set to be added to the schedule, with ambitions to bring in some of the country’s biggest superstars.
A host of athletes have pulled out of the track and field events in Glasgow this week but Rajpal hopes the scale of the next event will attract the biggest stars.
‘Of course it’s concerning that some athletes are not competing here but we will see what corrective action we can take about that,’ added Rajpal. ‘We will analyse everything and work out how we can get the best in the world competing in India. That’s our plan. I promise you. Our prime minister is involved, everyone is involved.
‘Cricket is like a religion in India. It will most likely be T20. We would like to see the superstars play. There will be a bunch of new faces in four years’ time but hopefully we see some legends too.
‘We’re making a beautiful village. There’s a knowledge transfer program going on here. The state of Gujarat are here to see how things are being managed. There’s a lot to learn and take things to the next level. That’s what India is aiming for.’
Despite concerns about the future of the event, New Zealand and Nigeria have both expressed their desire to host the Games in 2034.
