London 2012 Olympic fencing champion Lei Sheng got the celebrations underway in Nanjing as he was invited to promote his sport and encourage youngsters from across the region to get involved and participate.

The participation of a variety of Olympic sports is an initiative that will be running up to, and during the Youth Olympic Games in August as part of the organisers "Sport Initiation Programme" which hopes to get Chinese youngsters involved in sport from a young age.

In Beijing, the winners of the Youth Olympic Games poster design competition were invited to an exhibition of their work at the Palace Museum, whilst a three metre statute of Nanjinglele, the Games mascot, was erected in the city centre.

Winners of the Youth Olympic Games poster design contest were chosen amongst 3,000 competition entrants ©Nanjing 2014



A press conference was also held in the Chinese capital where Yang Wei-ze, Executive President of Nanjing 2014, highlighted his beliefs in the success of the upcoming Games.

"Nanjing 2014 YOG is ready and we are in games-time testing mode," Wei-ze.

"The Games will become a truly memorable event for all young people involved."

Hong Kong also joined in with the 100-days to go celebrations with a street dance festival held across the city.

Participants were also encouraged to download the Virtual Torch Relay application to allow them to be "digital" torchbearers for Nanjing 2014 and learn more about the Games and the Olympic values.

The 2014 Nanjing Olympic Games is due to take place from August 16 to 28 and will see around 3,600 athletes from 204 nations compete across 28 Olympic sports.

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