NEW DELHI, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - India will stage its first-ever Formula One race in 2010, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi announced Monday.

Kalmadi said he met Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone in London last week to seal the deal.

"It has been decided that the Formula One race will be held in Delhi in 2010," Kalmadi told reporters.

"Ecclestone stated he had received a good report from (Formula One track architect) Hermann Tilke. The shortlisted sites are Greater Noida and Sohna. We have been asked to negotiate and finalise any one of them," he added.

Tilke made an aerial survey of the two venues, located on the outskirts of Delhi, during his visit to the country earlier this month.

He will visit India again to prepare a master plan for the circuit once the venue is decided.

Kalmadi said Ecclestone had handed him two contracts, one for race promotion in India and the other relating to circuit rights.

"We'll be signing the contract for 2010. The month has not been finalised but it could be March or later after the Bahrain Grand Prix," he said.

Kalmadi said the earlier deadline of September 30 for signing the final contract had now been extended.

India's ambitious F1 plans were first unveiled in June when the IOA announced it had received a letter from

Formula 1 supremo Ecclestone, allowing the country to host a race in 2009 but subject to meeting certain conditions.

Ecclestone has recently promoted India as one of the future markets for motor sport after home-grown Narain Karthikeyan drove for Jordan in the 2005 season.

Karthikeyan hit the road on the back of Indian sponsorship reportedly worth 10 million dollars.

The 29-year-old did not race in 2006 but is signed up with Williams as a test driver.

Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya stated earlier this month that he was determined to bring a Formula One race to his country after confirming he had bought a 50 percent stake in the Spyker team.

Millions of Indians watch F1 on television, often with the same passion they reserve for the country's most popular sport - cricket.