India, Oct. 31 -- Did you know there's a pretty important Olympics starting this weekend? And that India's got athletes in it? Read or saw anything about them? Who designed their ceremonial kit etc., etc.? No, no, no and no?

Well, that's how much enthusiasm the Indian sporting establishment appears to have around the 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) being held in Africa for the first time, in the Senegalese capital of Dakar (October 31-November 13), across 25 competition (medal) sports with a Games motto of "Africa welcomes, Dakar celebrates."

In the Senegalese native Wolof, that's "Afrig Dalal, Ndakaaru Jemel" and "L'Afrique accueille, Dakar celebre" in French. The YOG are a relatively new competition, first held in Singapore 2010 as the...