India is capable of hosting Special Olympics but the lack of accommodation standards required for athletes with intellectual disabilities may come in the way of staging the event, said National Sports Director of SO Bharat on Thursday.
The 15th edition of the Special Olympics World Summer Games is set to begin here with 7,500 athletes from 190 nations taking centre stage, making the largest sports and humanitarian event in the world.
SO Bharat, which is accredited by Special Olympics International to conduct events in India, is fielding a contingent comprising 284 athletes and 71 coaches. This is the ninth time India will take part in the event.
"India can host Special Olympics sports specific wise not all of them together. We have good officials to officiate the games equivalent to the ones here if not better," Victor Vaz told PTI.
"We have good infrastructure for conducting the events the only place we are lacking is accommodation because the hygiene the European countries and US demands, I'm scared that India might not be able to provide," he added.
Victor insisted that the Indian body handling the athletes with intellectual disabilities has all the logistics figured out except for the accommodation.
"The special athletes require special care like ramps etc. SO Bharat is prepared with all the logistics except accommodation."