Delhi experience will boost Indian Olympic bid – official 13/10/2010 |
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India’s Commonwealth Games chef de mission Bhubaneswar Kalita believes hosting the event has dramatically increased the country’s chances of staging the Olympic Games in 2020.
Delhi 2010 has been beset by organisational problems but Kalita thinks it has been a huge learning curve for India and one that stands it in good stead to host an Olympics in the future.
"We have learnt very big lessons by hosting a big Games like this," he said.
"I can say that having the Commonwealth Games here in India is very good for our country in the long term and will definitely be a big step forward to hosting an Olympic Games in India in the future."
Meanwhile, London 2012 chairman Lord Coe has claimed that while taking major sporting events to new countries will inevitably present challenges, it is essential to inspire youngsters to take up sport.
Coe told Reuters in Delhi: "People shouldn't underestimate how difficult it is to organise at this level and I think they've done a pretty good job.
"If we think it is worth building a global capacity in sport, and we think that that global capacity will encourage young people to get involved in sport and healthy lifestyles, then occasionally you have to take those sports out of their comfort zones.
"That's clearly not going to be without its challenges but I think that is worth doing."
Coe said he had received largely positive feedback about the Games from athletes in Delhi.
"I take my lead from the athletes – and they are normally pretty brutally honest," he added.
"They liked the village, they liked the food, they thought the venues were good, they liked the proximity of the village to the training venues.
"A couple of them thought the security was a bit tough and they couldn't just wander out of the village."
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