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SINGAPORE : Singapore started its countdown Friday to the 2010 Youth Olympics, vowing to justify a decision by the International Olympic Committee to hand the inaugural event to the city-state.
Singapore beat Moscow by a vote of 53 to 44 late Thursday, with newspapers calling it arguably the biggest day in the country's sporting history.
The TODAY newspaper said "A dream come true" across its front page.
"It's Singapore 2010," the top-selling Straits Times yelled on its front page. "An honour and a privilege for everyone, now for the countdown to the main event."
"The city-state is, by international standards, already an Olympian city in finance, tourism, education, bio-tech research and bold ideas," it added in an editorial.
"Sports hosting will add to its standing."
It will be the first time that Singapore has hosted a multi-disciplinary sporting event of such a magnitude.
The brainchild of IOC chief Jacques Rogge, the Youth Olympics will feature traditional sports such as athletics and swimming, but also some innovative events such as beach-wrestling and BMX bike-riding.
It will see more than 3,000 athletes aged between 14 and 18 competing in 26 sports.
The win caps a series of sporting coups for Singapore, which will host a Formula One race for the first time this year and has also been added as a stopover on the Volvo Ocean Race next January.
"Singapore will be the birthplace of the Youth Olympics, just as Athens is the birthplace of the Olympics," said Parliamentary Secretary of Community Development, Youth and Sports Teo Ser Luck, who worked on the bid for nine months.
"I hope this will kick-start a sports culture in Singapore - not just among the young but also the old."
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan added that the Singapore brand name helped convince the IOC make its decision.
"What we offered was a compelling recipe that would have made a difference to the Olympic movement, and ultimately the IOC members wanted to know that this was a safe pair of hands," he told local media.
"They could see that this is Singapore - we do what we say, and we will deliver on time. And we will exceed expectations."
Singapore is proposing 24 venues, with four being built as temporary facilities, including one large cluster of 13 in its Marina-Kallang area.
The Youth Olympic Village will be located at a new multi-million-dollar student residential complex at the National University of Singapore. - AFP/ch
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