The tiger, India's national animal, will be the mascot for the 2010 Commowealth Games, to be held in Delhi.

Commonwealth Games Federation president Michael Fennel was told at a meeting with top Delhi government functionaries, which was also attended by Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi, that the tiger would be the mascot for the 2010 edition of the Games.

"It is now final that tiger will be the mascot for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi as Fennel asked the authorities here to name the mascot as soon as possible," a Delhi government source said.

The tiger will take over from Southeastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, the mascot for the 2006 Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, lawn bowls, netball and rugby sevens are three of the five obligatory sports that Delhi will have to include in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"Netball (women), lawn bowls and rugby sevens (men) are compulsory sports," Fennel told top Indian Olympic Association officials.

When Archery of Association of India president V K Malhotra pointed out that the three sports are almost unknown in India without any affiliated federations, Fennel replied: "Lawn bowls is extremely popular in other member countries. Rugby is one of the leading contenders to get into Olympics [Images] and was a big success (at the last Games) on TV."

Two other sports which shall be obligatory as per Article 22 of the CGF Constitution are athletics and swimming.

The Games will comprise a minimum of 10 sports and a maximum of 15, according to the constitution, which also says that the host country shall select the remaining sports from among 20 including archery, judo, lawn tennis and yachting.

Fennel said if India wanted to include tennis and archery, the Sports Committee would have to make a recommendation before being cleared by Executive Committee.

IOA Secretary General Randhir Singh said there were also recommendations from federations to include sports like basketball, canoeing, kayaking and rowing.

He also said there is no dispute between the IOA and government regarding the formation of various committees.

"We have no dispute but Mr Fennel has stressed on the autonomy of National Olympic Committees," he added.

Fennell said Sheila Dikshit would have to attend the closing ceremony of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games to take over the Games flag from the Australian city.

He also asked Delhi to be ready with a 15-minute presentation to be made at the closing ceremony, showcasing the capital as the next venue for the Games.

He also informed that on September 13 this year, the torch for the Melbourne Games will pass through Delhi.