Baichung Bhutia pulls out of Olympic torch relay

New Delhi: Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia has refused to carry the Olympic torch when it reaches New Delhi on April 17.

Bhutia conveyed his decision to the Indian Olympic Association on Monday after he was chosen to run with the Olympic torch on the India leg of its journey.

Bhutia, a Buddhist, said this was his way to show support and solidarity for the people of Tibet and their struggle.

He is not the first public personality to have distanced himself from the Beijing Olympics.

Last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy had indicated France might boycott the games if the situation in Tibet worsened while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will not attend the Olympics in Beijing.

In February, Hollywood director Steven Spielberg withdrew as an artistic adviser to the Olympics over China’s support to the Sudanese government at a time when the regime had been charged with massacres in the country’s Darfur region.

Associated Press reports:"This is my way of standing by the people of Tibet and their struggle. I abhor violence in any form,'' The Times Of India quoted Bhutia as saying.

The Olympic torch arrived in Beijing on Monday after demonstrations by a pro-Tibetan group during its passage from Ancient Olympia in Greece. The flame goes Tuesday to Almaty, Kazakhstan at the start of the 20-country, 137,000-km (85,100-mile) global journey with protests expected in several major cities.

Bhutia comes from Sikkim which borders China.

''I sympathise with the Tibetan cause. I have many friends in Sikkim who follow Buddhism.''

Bhutia could not be reached immediately for further comment.

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 Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India.

Dharamsala is home to the Dalai Lama - the Tibetan spiritual leader - who fled to India in 1959.

Last month, a Thai torchbearer, one of six chosen to bear the flame in Thailand, also withdrew from the relay, saying she wanted to protest China's actions in Tibet.