Team England all set for start of Commonwealth Youth Games
11th October 2008The third Commonwealth Youth Games get underway tomorrow (Sunday 12th October) in Pune, India with the first round of the tennis singles competition in the morning and the official Opening Ceremony starting at 5.30pm local time.
The event runs over seven days, from October 12th - 18th, and will feature 1314 athletes from 71 nations. The venues for the nine sports - athletics, badminton, boxing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling - are all located in the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City on the outskirts of Pune, the first time that all competition venues and the athletes village have been housed in a single sports complex.
The first action for Team England will be on Monday as all four tennis players have been seeded in the singles and so receive a bye in the first round.
Team England arrived on Wednesday and the 80 athletes have been adjusting to the heat and humidity and enjoying, what is for many, their first experience of a major multi-sport Games.
Kristian Callaghan from Reading, at 15 years old the youngest member of the shooting team, said: “This is my first time in India so it’s an entirely new experience but I’m really enjoying it. The sports village is amazing and although I’m usually a cold weather person I’m coping very well with the heat.”
Seventeen-year-old Ben Tier from Havant in Hampshire is competing in the men’s singles badminton event. “This is my first event outside Europe and my first multi-sport event,” he said. “I didn’t really know what I was expecting - a mini-Olympics I suppose and that’s what it is really. It’s a brilliant feeling walking around with the team and the Opening Ceremony is going to be really good.”
The Team England flag will be carried at the Opening Ceremony by 18-year-old weightlifter Ben Watson, a student from Oxford who is taking a year out from his studies to concentrate on his weightlifting. He captained the GB team at the European Youth Weightlifting Championships in 2007 and is the current British champion in the 77kg category.
“It’s a huge honour to be selected out of the whole team,” said Ben on hearing the news, “and I feel very proud. I’ve watched Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games before and never thought I’d have that opportunity. I feel a bit nervous but I’m just going to enjoy the whole experience.”
Team England’s Chef de Mission, Ann Hogbin, commented: “We received a very warm welcome when we arrived in India and the organisers are working very hard to put the finishing touches to all the venues, which look very impressive. Our athletes have settled in well and have adapted very quickly to the conditions here; for some this is their first taste of international competition and will hopefully be a fantastic experience at this early stage of their careers.”
Team England has an 80-strong team competing at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, which run from 12th to 18th October. Team England has athletes competing in all nine sports at the Games – athletics, badminton, boxing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.
Team England finished first in the overall medals table at the first Commonwealth Youth Games, held in Edinburgh in 2000 with 36 golds, 41 silvers and 18 bronzes; and second at the 2004 Games in Bendigo, Australia, with 41 golds, 31 silvers and 29 bronzes.
For further information please contact the Commonwealth Games England press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 443998 or 07765 071 683 or Fran Bullock, the Team England press officer in Pune on 0091 960 443 5248. Please note, Pune time is 4½ hours ahead of UK time.
Commonwealth Games England is the organisation responsible for selecting and organising England's team at the Commonwealth Games. At the last Games, held in Melbourne in 2006, Team England were second only to hosts Australia on the medal table winning 36 gold, 40 silver and 34 bronze medals.
Sport England is a major funder of Team England and its aim is to encourage more people of all ages to start, stay and succeed in sport at every level and to make England the most active and successful sporting nation.