The potential bid revolves around the city of Kaspiysk, who have secured the support of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), while the meeting in Moscow headed by Kozak included the President of Dagestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov, the Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and the executive director of the ROC Nikolai Tolstoy.

During the meeting, Magomedov spoke in detail about the existing sports facilities in Kaspiysk and gave a general analysis about the development of sport in the region.

He also outlined of the benefits of Kaspiysk's tourist appeal and said that it would only be improved by hosting the 2018 Youth Olympics.

"The sports and training system of Kaspiysk consists of 56 sports facilities, including a football stadium, 27 playgrounds and 25 sports halls," said Magomedov.

"There is also a race track, a multipurpose arena while the company Nafta Moskva is developing and implementing the project 'New City' to construct a modern stadium of 45,000 seats, a multifunctional sports arenas, training facilities and other objects and sports tourism infrastructure units."

The meeting concluded that Kaspiysk is a "promising" candidate to bid for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and the Russian Deputy Prime has now given instructions to the executives of the Russian Government to finalise the application.

It will be submitted for the final consideration at the ROC Board meeting in February ahead of the deadline for the ROC to submit a bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on March 1.

However, the support of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister is crucial for the Kaspiysk 2018 Youth Olympic bid as Kozak is a close ally of former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (pictured), who is likely to play a role in the bid.

Putin and Russia will also be confident in their bid as the country is enjoying a spectacular run of success in contests to host international sports competitions.

The next few years will bring the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup to the country along with several other important sporting events including the 2013 World Athletics Championships and the 2015 World Ice Hockey Championships.

However, Russia will face stiff competition as Buenos Aires in Argentina and Medellín in Colombia have already confirmed that they will bid for the competition.

Other potential bid cities include Abuja in Nigeria, Monterrey in Mexico, The Hague in Netherlands and Glasgow in Scotland while Sweden are also considering a bid from either Gothenburg, Malmö or Stockholm.

The hosts of the event will be announced in June 2013.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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