'Let's make Delhi the Asian capital of sports'

Delhi should focus on being the Asian capital of sports and work towards bidding for the Olympic Games, V.K. Verma, director general of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, said Friday.

"The security has been unhitched until now and the infrastructure development has been going full swing, all in preparation for the Commonwealth Games. But we have to ensure that the same is being maintained even after the games so that we can hope to win the bid for the Olympic games after this," Verma said on the concluding day of the two-day Delhi Tourism conclave.

"A sports culture has to be inculcated here. The trigger has been the Commonwealth Games, but let's maintain it. Let's make Delhi the Asian capital for sports," he added.

Saying that the onus now lies on every Delhiite to get the "return on investment" that the Commonwealth Games have been, Verma said: "During the Beijing Olympics, the head of the tourism department said 'the world has given us 16 days, we will give them 5,000 years', meaning that the event would be so spectacular that it will be indelible from one's memory.

"We have got 12 days (Commonwealth Games are between Oct 3-14) and without sounding too boisterous, let's say that in the next 20 years we will be at the pinnacle of all other must-visit places in the world." he said.