Answering media questions linked to the 10th anniversary of the Kazan 2013 Summer Universiade, Mutko, now working within the commercial economy as director general of DOM.RF, told Russian official state news agency TASS : "Kazan is the closest of all cities in the country to hosting the Olympic Games, absolutely closer.

"Potentially, you are ready by 70 per cent.

"And you need 30 percent - think about it.

"Now let's forget about politics.

"From the point of view of organisational capabilities and potential, and from the point of view of the material base, this issue needs to be carefully looked at…

"We focus on winter and summer, then this is at least 35 sports, take a pencil, circle it yourself.

"You need an athletics stadium with running tracks, at least 80-100 thousand seats.

"There are many things when people say ready If you want to talk about the Olympics, you need to talk about it for ten years.

"This should be today the strategy for the development of the city, the master plan for development, this should be laid down.

"So, potentially, the airport, accommodation - everything is there.

"But there are still a dozen sports that will need to be invested in.

"We need to be careful with these statements…

"We were preparing the Universiade, practically the prototype of the Olympic Games, we held it at the level of the Olympic Games … but something is still missing here."

Russian Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin, who became President of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) two years after Kazan 2013, was due to visit the city today (July 14).

Kazan 2013 was regarded as a successful staging of the Summer University Games.

The hosts finished top of the medals table with 151 golds, more than five times as many as its nearest challenger China, and a record-breaking total of 292 medals.

Four Russian athletes took four gold medals at Kazan 2013: gymnast Margarita Mamun, and swimmers Yuliya Yefimova, Viktoriiya Andreeva - who also won a silver medal - and Vladimir Morozov - who also took silver and bronze.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was particularly impressed by the results achieved by the home team, who smashed the all-time record for gold medals won at a Summer World University Games with four days of competition to spare.

"All the athletes are very good," he said.

"They are world champions, Olympic champions from Europe and other continents."

The Russian medals total began to diminish somewhat in the following years, however, as retrospective doping sanctions began to take effect on an event that took place seven months before the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, which were disfigured by the revelation of a systematised home doping system that caused a series of sanctions in subsequent international events for Russian athletes.

On May 18, 2017, the rankings of the women's heptathlon and 1,500m were updated further to the suspension of two Russian female athletes by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

On November 13, 2020, the rankings of the women's 3000m steeplechase were updated further due to the suspension of two Russians, one Ukrainian and one Turkish athlete.

And on August 12 last year the results of Russia’s shot put gold medallist Irina Tarasova between July 2012 and July 2016 were annulled by the Athletics Integrity Unit, meaning her Kazan 2013 gold was lost.

After Kazan 2013, Russia staged the winter version of the FISU flagship event, at Krasnoyarsk in 2019 and was due to host another summer edition in Yekaterinburg this year.

But the FISU Executive Committee suspended the hosting rights in April 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Chengdu 2021 is now due to take place from July 28 to August 8.