NEW DELHI -- India will bid for the 2020 Olympics, the country's Olympic association president said on Saturday.
"You are the most populous continent and that will
translate into results -- maybe not immediately in Beijing [2008
Olympics] -- but in the long term Asia really will become the
dominant continent in sport."
-- IOC president Jacques Rogge
"The moment the Commonwealth Games are over, all of us will
be working on that bid
we will start off immediately,"
Suresh Kalmadi told a news conference in the presence of IOC
president Jacques Rogge.
New Delhi will stage the 2010 Commonwealth Games though
Kalmadi said this week there would be no bid for the 2016
Olympics after the failure earlier this month to land the 2014
Asian Games.
The IOA blamed sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar for the
failed Asian bid, saying his statement that New Delhi hosting
the Commonwealth Games was an attempt to improve the country's
global image but of little relevance to the common man caused
the damage.
Rogge said on Saturday of a 2020 Olympics bid: "I think you
have great potential based on the general conditions of your
country's progress, which will definitely also evolve in a
positive way at the time when the Games are awarded [in 2013]."
He added, "You also have the opportunity to stage a
wonderful Commonwealth Games which will strengthen the bid."
Rogge predicted that Asia would become the most dominant
sporting continent.
He said: "You are the most populous continent and that will
translate into results -- maybe not immediately in Beijing [2008
Olympics] -- but in the long term Asia really will become the
dominant continent in sport."