Muscat, Oman: NAYGOC, the organising committee of the 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China, in 2013, provided an update on preparations for delegates at the Olympic Solidarity/OCA Regional Forum for West Asia and Central Asia in Muscat on Tuesday. Mr. Wang Wanglin, Consultant for NAYGOC, said the OCA had already held two Coordination Committee meetings in Nanjing and that several issues had been decided.

These included the 15 sports, the emblem, the slogan “Celebrating Youth, Passionate Asia” and the Athletes’ Village at the Jiangpu Campus of Nanjing University of Technology, specifically the new residential block being constructed for young teachers.

The opening ceremony on August 16 and closing ceremony on August 24, 2013, will be held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, which has a capacity of 13,000. Plans are now underway for the one-year countdown ceremony and for the design of the mascot.

Nanjing was awarded the 2nd AYG by the OCA in November 2010, and organisers will use the event as a full-scale dress rehearsal for the IOC’s 2nd Youth Olympic Games in 2014.