Commonwealth Games chief Mike Fennell claims Delhi delivered a successful games despite the problems before and during the event.
Fennell thanked the organisers and people of the city at Thursday's glittering closing ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
"Delhi has performed," said Fennell. "The competition has gone well, the venues were of a high standard and the athletes are happy.
"We had to deal with a number of issues but the end result has been good."
The build-up to the games was overshadowed by problems with the athletes' village and stadia infrastructure which led to the withdrawal of a number of leading athletes.
The 11-day event was then blighted by ticketing problems and poor crowds.
At the closing ceremony a speech from organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi was roundly jeered.
However, Fennell believes Delhi managed to successfully carry off a challenging games.
He added: "Before the games people were asking me 'why are you going to India? Why are you going to Delhi? When are you going to cancel the games?
"But we felt it was our job to fix what was wrong not give up. A year out from the games people asked 'what is your Plan B?' I said 'our Plan B is Delhi'.
"I don't blame the media for exposing what had to be exposed. It was important to expose some of the fundamental problems and that helped. It helped us to get action going in some areas.
"People have seen an extremely positive image of the games through television, right across the world."