After 18 months, the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee reports on the progress it has made for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

Key progress areas include the following - introducing the Olympic Education Programme to 500,000 school students, finalising the sports venues and competition schedule, developing the Culture and Education Programme, upgrading works at the Youth Olympic Village at NTU, and recruiting 15,000 volunteers.

Mr Goh Kee Nguan, Chief Executive Officer of SYOGOC said: "Despite the short time of two-and-a-half years and the challenging task of organising the first Youth Olympic Games, preparations are on track. We are particularly encouraged by the people, institutions and companies, who have come forward to partner us towards organising a successful Games.

"Every involvement is vital in contributing to the success of the Games."

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports added that Singapore is setting the benchmark for future Youth Olympic Games.

He said: "In this spirit, I urge all Singaporeans to get involved in the Games as we welcome the world to Singapore in August 2010."

The celebration on the progress of YOG will culminate at the Countdown Event at the Padang.

A Countdown Clock will be unveiled at the City Hall to signify 365 days to the Games.

On the same day, SYOGOC will launch an exercise for the naming of the YOG mascots.

The mascots and their names will be revealed in the last quarter of this year.