Youth Games baton crisscrosses thousands of miles to reach final destination

Pune is all set for next weeks Commonwealth Youth Games. The Youth Baton Relay (YBR) reached its final destination with hundreds of sports enthusiasts giving it a rousing reception on Tuesday.

Pune, Oct 8 : Pune is all set for next week's Commonwealth Youth Games. The Youth Baton Relay (YBR) reached its final destination with hundreds of sports enthusiasts giving it a rousing reception on Tuesday.

The one-week-long extravaganza will run from October 12 to 18.

The baton relay will go round the city for three days before heading to the final venue Balewadi on October 12.

Indian Olympic Association president and Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG)008 director Suresh Kalmadi unveiled the Games' mascot 'Jigrr', a chubby tiger cub.

Kalmadi said the baton relay received enthusiastic response from the nine states it had crisscrossed during its 67-day journey.

He added that India's lone Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra will join the relay on its last leg in the city.

"This baton relay has come here for the Commonwealth Youth Games. In order to encourage Olympics sports, this baton really has reached here after traveling to many states. It started from New Delhi. The way youth has welcomed these relay depicts that Olympics sports will continue in India for several years. In the final leg of these games, Abhinav Bindra will run in the relay," Kalmadi said.

The baton relay began on August 1 from New Delhi.

Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) is not just about sports, but it's India's biggest attempt to connect sports with environment issues.

With conservation and Save the Tiger top on their minds, hundreds of sports personalities and athletes took part in the baton relay that crisscrossed the entire breadth of India.

Some 71-Commonwealth nations are expected to take part in the third CYG.

The inaugural CYG was held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2000 in which 14 countries participated. The second edition was held in Bendigo, Australia in December 2004 that saw the participation of 24 countries.

CYG is held once in four years.

ANI