panaji the 36th edition of the national games seems to be finally happening in goa or so they claimed at the launch event last month riddled with glitches and embarrassing moments the indian olympic association ioa has had quite a few tiffs with state government officials largely over inordinate delays but with the games now scheduled for october 20 to november 4 ioa president narinder batra feels its time to look ahead excerpts from an exclusive interview with toiare you happy that the national games are finally happening in goanow the games are definitely happening there is no doubt about it otherwise you wouldnt see the games launch and the mascot being released the way we have now been discussing with chief minister deputy chief minister sports minister and other people the spirit is there to make it happen i dont have any doubtsdoubts have been there because the games have been delayed for too longdont go into history if you want to do something then forget history look at the current situation and take it from there what happened previously lets forget about it i am happy that the games will happenthe national games have always been delayed how do you look at such delayscan you give a specific case or are you making a general statementkerala 2015 happened four years after the games were initially scheduled jharkhand were scheduled to host in 2007 but happened only in 2011thats in the past there is no point going into history we are now ensuring there are no delays the secretary general of ioa has said we want to make sure that the games are held every two years the union sports minister also said the same thing we are already on the job we will ensure that the games are now held on timehow feasible is the idea to have the games every two yearsi dont see a problemso after goa 2020 it will be meghalaya 2022the games may even happen in 2021 they have 50 years of the states formation and want to host the event that year work is on in all the three places chhattisgarh uttarakhand meghalaya all of them will be ready in time or even beforethe national games in goa are happening in an olympic year how will you convince indias top athletes to take part since they would have given their all for the olympicsthe olympics end on august 9 so there is sufficient time for athletes to come back and compete in october i see no reason why the top athletes should not participate there is no reason there are no other international commitments theres nothing else happening athletes and sports federations are committed to ensure that participation is of the highest levelwill the ioa ensure that the top athletes do not stay awayits a commitment that everyone has these are standard protocols people understand that the top athletes have to participate unless they are injured then there is nothing we can dothere