The achievements of medallists at this year's UTS World Virtual Youth Festival were recognised during a ceremony streamed virtually ©UTS

Medallists at this year’s United Through Sports (UTS) World Virtual Youth Festival have been recognised during a special ceremony streamed online.

The ceremony featured highlights from the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the UTS Festival, held in Saudi Arabia last month.

More than 40,000 youngsters participated in the event which featured sporting competitions as well as interactive workshops and panel discussions, held as part of an educational programme.

The festival enjoyed more than 180,000 views through YouTube, with around 30 per cent of these coming from youth-run workshops.

In total, 126 organisations and federations, nine cities and 68 sports participated throughout the festival.  

During the online ceremony, virtual medal ceremonies took place for the UTS Festival’s five all-inclusive competitions - Max Fit, Aero Fit, the International Paralympic Committee Inclusive Challenge, Special Olympics International Unified Fitness Challenge and a talent show competition.


During the virtual medal ceremonies medallists names and photos were displayed on screen, and the national anthems of the gold medallists were played.

Uzbekistan is scheduled to host the 2022 edition of the UTS World Virtual Youth Festival.

UTS chief executive Julia Govinden said: “We are certainly looking forward to Uzbekistan 2022 and in May SportAccord in Yekaterinburg where we will be powering the sports festival to give youth of the region access to sport, education and entertainment."

The SportAccord Festival powered by UTS is scheduled to open on Tuesday May 17 and close on Friday May 20.