Delhi will bid for 2020 Olympics

The Indian Olympic Association has stated that Delhi will bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

The IOA will now not bid for the 2016 Games after India missed out on the race to host the 2014 Asian Games.

Delhi is already the venue for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, while India will co-host the 2011 cricket World Cup.

"We will start our preparations as soon as the 2010 Commonwealth Games are over," said IOA president Suresh Kalmadi. "Delhi will bid for 2020."

The bidding process for the 2020 Games will open in 2011.

"We thought of bidding for the 2016 Olympics because we already have the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and were planning to host the 2014 Asian Games," Kalmadi added.

"So by 2016 we could have had an Olympics for free, since by then infrastructure would have been in place."

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, in India to inaugurate an Olympic facility, told Kalmadi that the country should bid for 2020.

"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 said.

"We have a lot of expectations from India and we in the IOC think that India have great potential in sports.

"You have six years to prepare an impeccable bid. You have to unite for it."

Delhi lost out to the South Korean port city of Incheon in the race for the 2014 Asian Games last week.