By Tom Degun

January 14 - Guadalajara will not withdraw its bid to host the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games despite receiving arguably the worst Evaluation report from a team of International Olympic Committee (IOC) inspectors.


Bernardo de la Garza, the chairman of Mexico’s National Sports Commission (CONADE), has moved quickly to crush such speculation, after reports claimed that the city's Mayor Aristotle Sandoval wanted to withdraw them following the report from the Evaluation Commission, headed by former world 200 metres champion Frankie Fredericks, which placed them behind Nanjing in China and Poznan in Poland.

The IOC raised concerns about a number of aspects of Guadalajara’s bid, including the lack of guarantees if the $82.74 million (£51.51 million) budget falls short, which they warned "represents an important financial risk".

But De la Garza has claimed reports of Guadalajara, which is hosting the 2011 Pan American Games, withdrawing from the race as inaccurate.

He said: "There will always be some who want to put their personal interests above the general interest but that does not have to cancel a project of that magnitude.

"We remain firm in our intentions to make Guadalajara 2014 a reality.

"This is a national project and I will hold on to the hope of winning right until the end."

Nanjing remain the favourites to land the Games as the Evaluation Report stated that the Chinese city presented "minimal risk to the IOC".

However, all three candidate cities will present their final plans to all the IOC members when they meet at the IOC Session in Vancouver on February 10 before a final decision is voted upon.

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