Hosting Olympics not beyond India - Dutt

All things are possible in Sunil Dutt's brave new world, even the prospect of India staging the Olympic Games. On his first day of public office, the new Union Minister for Youth and Sports said in an exclusive briefing that there was every reason to believe that India was capable of hosting the Olympic Games in the forseeable future.

"I remember Indira Gandhiji once said it was not just important to win gold medals but it is also important to participate," Dutt recalled.

"I don't know if we will win gold medals or not, but if we host the Olympics it will send a lot of positive signals to the youth of our country. "By staging the Games in India, our youth will have the opportunity of seeing other players from abroad and that will inspire them," he stressed. Asked if the required investment was available to upgrade India's sports facilities to Olympics standards, he responded: "The money comes. I remember when we staged the Asian Games in Indiraji's time and everyone thought how will it happen.

"Overnight the hotels were built, overnight the stadium was built and everone considered these to be one of the finest games stages over here."