Thailand to bid again for hosting rights

Thailand said on Wednesday it would pursue its dream of hosting the Olympics despite rejection of its bid for the 2008 Summer Games.

Olympic Committee of Thailand (OCT) president Chetta Thanajaro told Reuters that Thailand would prepare itself to qualify as an Olympic host as soon as possible.

"Thailand must do everything to win a chance to host an Olympic Games as soon as possible," Chetta said.

"The faster we are qualified to host, the easier we will be selected, as other country candidates would speed up their preparations to be qualified as well."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board on Monday eliminated Bangkok and four other cities from the list of candidates to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Beijing, Paris, Toronto, Osaka and Istanbul reached the final stages of the race for the Games while Havana, Seville, Kuala Lumpur and Cairo were also ruled out.

Chetta, a former head of the Thai Army, said Thailand would apply to host the 2012 Games unless Beijing was selected for the 2008 Games.

He said he believed that if the Chinese capital was chosen for 2008, it might then take at least 20 years before an Asian city had a chance to host an Olympics again.

Chetta said Bangkok might have lost this time because of its reputation for congested traffic and air pollution. But he said both problems had eased significantly in recent years.