Pune Gearing Up for The 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games

The Venue

The III Commonwealth Youth Games will be hosted by Pune from 12 to 18 October 2008 at the magnificent Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City, Balewadi. The notable feature of this event is that the competition venues of all sports events and the Athletes Village are located in one single complex.

The sports city is located 12 KM away from Pune railway station and 22 KM from the airport, on the Mumbai- Pune highway. It occupies an area of 153 acres of well laid out sports venues with world class competition and training facilities. An Athletes Village with modern facilities is also located within the venue.
The main Athletics stadium has a seating capacity of 20,000 and will be the venue for the Opening and Closing ceremonies.

The Sports City has 5 indoor (Badminton, Table Tennis, Weightlifting, Wrestling and Boxing) and 4 outdoor (Athletics, Tennis, Swimming and Shooting) venues. The Shooting Range including Trap & Skeet will be the best in the country. All the venues are provided with modern electronic scoring and timing equipment. Each venue also caters for a separate practice and warm up area.

The Mascot

The mascot of the III Commonwealth Youth Games Pune 2008 is the younger brother of 'Shera', the mascot of the Commonwealth Games 2010. His name is “Jigrr”. He is young, impish, playful, mischievous, intelligent, sporting, alert and full of life, all set to energize Pune for Commonwealth Youth Games 2008. Incorrigibly competitive and incredibly brave, he is oozing with confidence and the twinkle in the eye reflects his 'I can do it' attitude.

Jigrr is an amalgam of the Hindi word "Jigar", which implies courage and the sound of a tiger roar (grrr...). Jigrr is also phonetically similar to Tiger.

Jigrr will not only promote the Youth Games at Pune but also spread his enthusiasm for sports among the youth of India. He is here to spread pure joy of youth and give a smile to everyone.

Hosting the Games

The Commonwealth Youth Games are an extremely significant event for India as they will form the back-bone for her quest for maximum Medals in the Delhi 2010 Games. The Youth Games will also serve to identify India’s medal winning potential athletes for the Asian Games 2014 and the Olympic Games 2016.

The most unique feature of these games is their venue, Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex. The venue of the III Commonwealth Youth Games Pune 2008 i.e. Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City, Balewadi, is unique as it is for the first time that the competition venues of all disciplines and the athletes’ village will be housed in a single sports complex. Located on 153 acres of land, on the outskirts of Pune, it is all set to host the international competitive multi-sporting event.