New Commonwealth Games Federation President Prince Tunku Imran wants the event to be given Olympic qualifying status in order to attract the best athletes and maintain relevance in a saturated sporting calendar.

The Games, which take place every four years and feature up to 17 sports for athletes from more than 70 countries of former British colonies, suffered negative headlines after an incident-marred event in Delhi last year.

Several top athletes, including Jamaican Usain Bolt, opted to skip the Games due to scheduling issues as well as safety concerns.

Prince Imran, who succeeded Jamaican Mike Fennell earlier this month, told Reuters in an interview at his office in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that one way to ensure the best athletes were always in attendance was to dangle the Olympic carrot.

“Getting the top athletes, the best athletes in the sport that we have, has to be the main goal as that is what television and spectators are looking for,” the qualified barrister and former Squash national champion said.

“You can’t say you are the great Games when you are not attracting the best in the Commonwealth.

“We are in such a competitive position now, we are in the same year as the FIFA World Cup, we are in the same year as the Winter Olympics.

“We should try and persuade the international federations to make the Commonwealth Games a qualifying, perhaps the first qualifying event, for the Olympics.”