Impressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's committment towards sports, International Olympic Council President Jacques Rogge, on Saturday said India had a great chance to win the bid for the 2020 Olympics as the country would become a "sporting tiger" by then.
"I am impressed to see your Prime Minister is so committed to sports. New Delhi should bid for the 2020 Games," Rogge told reporters.
"We have a lot of expectations from India and we in IOC think India have great potential in sports.
"You have a young population of 70 per cent under 25, good infrastructure and the benefit of past experiences in organising the Games. You are also going to organise the 2010 Commonwealth Games and World Military Games and perhaps hockey World Cup to become a sporting tiger," he said.
"It is a matter of will and organisation and we are going to support India in its training, expertise... and also financial reaources," he added.
On Saturday, the Indian Prime Minister had suggested that sports should be made compulsory part of school and college curricula.
Calling for a "nationwide movement of youth in sports", Singh wanted a collective effort by "all stakeholders" in this direction.
"We should seriously think of making sports and games a compulsory part of the educational syllabus in schools and colleges. Countries that stand out in the world of sports are the ones that have in fact made them an integral part of their educational curricula," Singh said at the inaugural function of the 'Olympic Bhawan' in New Delhi.
The Prime Minister stressed that greater attention was needed on athletics and gymnastics, apart from mass games like cricket, hockey and football.
Rogge, who is on his first visit to India since 1986, said it was important for a bid to have "best possible collaboration" of the government and the sporting organisation and private parties also.
"There cannot be a good game without strong cooperation between the government and the sporting organisaion and private parties," he said in reply to a query.
"It is for the prestige of organisation that all governments try to do their best. Sport is a force for good in every country," he added.
Taking a serious view of the unethical practices by the South Koreans during the bid for the 2014 Asian Games, Rogge bluntly told the OCA to ensure that such blatant display of money power was not repeated in future bids.
The IOC President said bidding processes for Games should not become "an auction" and bids should be decided on merit alone.
"I am sure OCA will reflect and take necessary measures in this field. OCA is an autonomous body and IOC has no control over it but in principle bidding process should not be an auction with the hosting rights going to the highest bidder," Rogge told reporters.
India failed to win the hosting rights for 2014 Asian Games to Incheon last week after they were not able to match the South Korean city's offer of USD 20 million.
The 65-year-old Belgian, however, said at IOC there was no such practice.
"Money has no role to play, we go for the best bid. We are not going to the candidate who bids most money," he added.
