Lyo and Merly to be mascots for inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games
By Patwant Singh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 21 November 2009 1929 hrs

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SINGAPORE: The mascots for the world's first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next year have been revealed.

One is a male Lion called Lyo and the other a female Merlion called Merly.

The mascots were officially introduced to much celebration at Suntec City on Saturday.

Doing the honours was Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, who brought along his three-year-old son.

A contest, won by two Singaporeans, was held to name the mascots.

Lyo is short for "Lion of the Youth Olympics," while Merly gets her name from "mer" meaning the sea, and "l" and "y" standing for liveliness and youthfulness.

Besides Singapore, the mascots will travel to five cities around the world as part of the global torch relay for the Games.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "It is an interesting play on fire and water and the lion and merlion. So there are aspects of which we clearly can identify with as Singaporeans, but really what we hope is these mascots will be embraced by Singaporeans as well as the visitors who come."

It took about six months to design the mascots. Plush toys of the mascots will go on sale at the official Olympic store at Takashimaya starting Sunday.

- CNA/sc