Not happy with repeated delays, Sports Minister Vijay Goel tells IOA to conduct National Games at the earliest

New Delhi: Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Wednesday expressed his displeasure over repeated delays in the organisation of the National Games, asking IOA president N Ramachandran to hold the event as soon as possible.

The National Games are supposed to take place every two years and last took place in Kerala in 2015 after a four-year gap.

After a prolonged delay, Goa was supposed to host the Games in November last year, but the event did not take place.

"I had a long meeting with the IOA president today. I told him that National Games should be held on time and he assured me that he will soon go to Goa and take stock of the situation," Goel said after the meeting which was also attended by sports secretary Injeti Srinivas.

"I also instructed the IOA to immediately resolve the various disputes in National Sports Federations," he said further.

On NADA handing a provisional suspension to one of India's international athletes for possessing a banned substance in NIS Patiala campus, Goel said: "I cannot talk about it case by case.

"We are very strict on doping and we are checking players more than ever before. We have also proposed that doping should be made a criminal offence which it will act as a deterrent."

In the meeting held with IOA president, Goel also discussed the possibility of hosting the Asian Games and Asian Beach Games.

The hosts for the next three Asian Games have already been decided though India has a shot at hosting the Beach Asian Games in 2020.

"We have to see how and when we can bid for the Asian Games. But we are confident of winning the bid for Asian Beach Games," said Goel.

The minister was also asked about India facing Pakistan in the upcoming Champions Trophy at a time when bilateral relations between the two nations have reached its nadir.

"We don't have control over multilateral tournaments but we have maintained that there cannot be any bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan until they stop cross-border terrorism," he added.