India too poor to bid for Olympics: MS Gill

New Delhi, Nov 26: Amid doubts over India's capability of hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Sports minister Manohar Singh Gill has said that the country is too poor to even consider the idea hosting an Olympics in the near future.

"I am not sure if India should be thinking of the Olympics. Look at the poverty here," Gill told the Parliament.

"Some of our colleagues (in Parliament) and people outside casually say we should be bidding for the Olympics... I don't think so," Gill said and questioned, "China spent $50 billion for the Beijing Olympics. Are you ready to spend that much?"

This comes as a big blow to those who were looking forward to India bidding to host Olympics on Indian Olympic association (IOA) chief Suresh Kalmadi's statement that India would bid for the 2020 Summer Games after the successful delivery of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Earlier Gill informed Rajya Sabha that the estimated cost of training and competition venues alone was Rs 41 billion prompting the government to double the Commonwealth Games budget to 344 million dollars.

India is considering Oct 2010 event as a serious opportunities to prove itself as a major global destination.

OneIndia News