'I won't carry Olympic torch,' says India football captain

India’s football captain Bhaichung Bhutia has refused to carry the Beijing Olympic torch during its run in the capital New Delhi later this month in protest at Chinese authorities’ crackdown on protests in Tibet.

The former Bury FC forward faxed his decision to his Olympic association, an official said.

The Indian Olympic Association, which is organising the flame’s run in New Delhi on April 17, had invited several top Indian athletes, including Bhutia.

The captain, who is reported by Indian media to be the first athlete to refuse to run with the torch, faxed his decision to the IOA yesterday, said the official.

“This is my way of standing by the people of Tibet and their struggle,” Bhutia was quoted as saying in The Times Of India. “I abhor violence in any form.”

The Olympic torch arrived in Beijing yesterday after demonstrations by a pro-Tibetan group during its passage through Greece. The flame headed to Almaty, Kazakhstan, today, the start of the 20-country, 85,100-mile global journey with protests expected in several major cities.

Bhutia belongs to India’s north-eastern Sikkim state which borders China.

“I sympathise with the Tibetan cause. I have many friends in Sikkim who follow Buddhism,” Bhutia was quoted as saying. He could not be reached immediately.

Tibetan exiles in India are highlighting their opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet with their own relay torch and by staging their own version of the Olympics from May 15-25 in Dharmsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India.

Dharmsala is home to the Dalai Lama – the Tibetan spiritual leader – who fled Tibet to India in 1959 after the province’s failed uprising.