A six-day summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) kicked off with an opening ceremony at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi on Sunday evening, marking the launch of the largest sporting event ever hosted by Georgia.
Tbilisi won the bid to host the biennial games for 14-18-year-old athletes in 2010, beating out the Czech city of Brno.
Over 3,200 athletes from 50 countries are competing in nine sports, including artistic gymnastics; athletics; basketball; cycling; handball; judo; swimming; tennis, and volleyball.
Competitions will be held at ten venues. Five of them - swimming pool, gymnastics, volleyball and athletics arenas, as well as tennis courts - are newly built facilities, and others have been reconstructed.
source: commonspace.eu with civil.ge
