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But the proposals of Debrecen (in Hungary), Guatemala City, Kuala Lumpur and Poznan (in Poland) failed to impress the IOC panel. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, yesterday welcomed the news. He said: 'The Youth Olympic Games will celebrate sports and promote the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. 'We share these values, and believe that multiracial, multi-cultural and multi-religious Singapore is a working model of these values in action.' The Republic scored highly in areas such as accommodation, transport system and strong government. Singapore's unique concept of staging the Games in both the city and the heartland was also well received. But the Republic lost out to Moscow over its yet-to-be-built Games Village. Moscow intends to house the athletes in an existing three-star hotel complex used for the 1980 Olympic Games and 1998 World Youth Games. Singapore's proposed Games Village site is the National University of Singapore's University Town @ Warren. MCYS Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck said Singapore's bid committee will reassure the IOC that the complex will be ready in time for the Games. He added: 'We are confident the Games Village would be ready to welcome the athletes. But we will also offer alternative accommodation.' Among the possible alternatives are the hostels at both NUS and Nanyang Technological University. Still, Singapore's chances of pipping the other four cities when the winning city is announced in February appear to be good. The IOC has already said one of the purposes of the Games is to allow countries which would not be able to stage the traditional Olympic Games a chance to host a major event. Athens and Moscow have hosted the Summer Games while Turin hosted last year's Winter Olympics. IOC Executive Board member from Singapore Ng Ser Miang said he has received positive feedback about Singapore's bid, but stressed there is more work to be done. He said: 'The IOC report pointed out a few areas we can work on. We'll be using that to tighten and strengthen our bid further.' An IOC evaluation commission has been formed to look at the five shortlisted cities. It will submit a report to the IOC executive board in January. The board will then recommend which cities will be submitted to the 114 IOC members for voting. A postal vote by all IOC members will then decide the winning city in February.
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