London UK Information

The IOA will vote on whether to boycott the Games on December 5 following a petition signed by their past and present athletes.

Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, where Bhopal is located, asked sports minister Ajay Maken to boycott the Olympics.

In a letter, he said it was not appropriate for a company linked to such a tragedy to be allowed to sponsor an event 'considered as an ultimate expression of fair play, honesty and healthy endeavour'.
 

Concerns have also been raised by 21 Indian Olympic athletes who earlier this month urged London 2012 to end Dow's sponsorship of a curtain-style wrap of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London.

VK Malhotra, acting president of the IOA, said: 'Many Olympic athletes are upset that Dow is sponsoring the London Olympics and they want to boycott.'

Up to 15,000 people died and tens of thousands  were maimed when poisonous gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal in central India in 1984. Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001 but denies responsibility for Carbide's Bhopal liabilities.