By Tom Degun

Youth_hockeyApril 26 - Monterrey has stepped up its bid to host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games by releasing a new trailer highlighting their ability to stage the prestigious sporting event.


The trailer displays the major tourist attractions in the Mexican city and some of the key sporting venues that they hope to use for the competition, including the Arena Monterrey, which will be used for basketball and gymnastics.

The Centro Acuatico Olimpico Universitario, which boasts a 50 metre swimming pool, and the 33,000 capacity Estadio Tec Monterry, which staged matches at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, will also be used.

The trailer also shows off Monterrey's wide range of restaurants, bars, shopping malls, exclusive shops, passion for soccer and baseball and the vibrant nightlife that makes the city a popular tourist destination.

Monterrey is set to face stiff competition to host the third Summer Youth Olympics with Medellín in Columbia, Kazan in Russia, The Hague in the Netherlands and Abuja in Nigeria all set to bid for the competition.

Toulouse in France is another city likely to bid for the competition if French candidate Annecy loses its bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in July this year.

Monterrey was overlooked by the Mexican Olympic Committee to bid for 2014 and they instead picked Guadalajara, who then withdrew following a poor evaluation report by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 

The Youth Olympic Games, which is credited as being the brainchild of current IOC President Jacques Rogge, features athletes between the age of 14 and 18.

The inaugural Summer Youth Olympics took place in Singapore last year while the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games will be held in Innsbruck, Austria in early 2012 and the second Summer Youth Olympics will take place in Nanjing, China, in 2014.

Lillehammer in Norway is the only city to have bid for the second Winter Youth Olympics in 2016 while Monterrey is already established as one of the front runners for the 2018 Youth Olympics.

To view the Monterrey trailer for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games click here.

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January 2010: Guadalajara pull out of race to host 2014 Summer Youth Olympics