NEW DELHI — India's soccer captain has refused to carry the Olympic torch through the New Delhi later this month to protest China's crackdown on recent demonstrations in Tibet, a sports official said today.

Bhaichung Bhutia, among the first athletes to refuse to run with the torch, informed the Indian Olympic Association yesterday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

"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 IOA, which is organizing the flame's run in New Delhi on April 17, has invited several top Indian athletes, including Bhutia, to take part in carrying the torch.

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

Tibetan exiles in India are highlighting their opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet with their own relay torch from May 15-25 in Dharmsala, the seat 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.

Bhutia is from to India's northeastern Sikkim state, which borders China.

"I sympathize with the Tibetan cause. I have many friends in Sikkim who follow Buddhism," Bhutia told the newspaper. He could not be reached immediately for comment.

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