Get audio access with any FP subscription.

Subscribe Now

ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN

The irony would be delicious if it weren’t so damaging. India, aspiring to join the world’s most elite club of Olympic host nations, is busy demonstrating precisely why it shouldn’t be trusted with such a responsibility. On Saturday, cricket’s Men’s T20 World Cup will kick off, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The ongoing saga of boycotts, visa denials, and cricket diplomacy ahead of the event has exposed a troubling truth: India’s government appears willing to weaponize sports for political purposes, exactly the behavior the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has warned against.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made hosting the 2036 Summer Olympics a centerpiece of his vision for India’s global standing. The pitch is compelling: a nation of 1.4 billion people, the world’s fifth-largest economy, ready to showcase its modernity to the world. But then there’s the reality playing out in cricket, the sport India actually dominates.

The irony would be delicious if it weren’t so damaging. India, aspiring to join the world’s most elite club of Olympic host nations, is busy demonstrating precisely why it shouldn’t be trusted with such a responsibility. On Saturday, cricket’s Men’s T20 World Cup will kick off, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The ongoing saga of boycotts, visa denials, and cricket diplomacy ahead of the event has exposed a troubling truth: India’s government appears willing to weaponize sports for political purposes, exactly the behavior the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has warned against.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made hosting the 2036 Summer Olympics a centerpiece of his vision for India’s global........

© Foreign Policy