Pune: All eyes will be on the local lad Virdhawal Khade and his fellow Beijing Olympians Saina Nehwal and Neha Aggrawal when the 158-member strong Indian contingent begins their quest for medals in the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) which begins form Sunday at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi in Pune.
The so-called "dress rehearsal" for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, CYG will give a platform to the Indian 'youth' who are hoping to graduate to the big stage.
While swimming, badminton and table tennis could fetch most medals for the hosts with a star-studded Indian line-up, shooting, boxing, wrestling and weightlifting have the potential to give few more medals and throw up some new talents in the multi-discipline event to be competed by 71 countries.
Athletics, which boasts of the biggest Indian squad with 55 members, also have an Olympian in Poovamma Machettira Raju (400m and 4x400m) but it's the relay time which is the best bet to bag a gold, feels coach Suresh Babu.
With Yuki Bhambri making it big post his junior Davis Cup stint where he was instrumental in India making the semi-finals for the first time, India have bright chances in tennis as well, says coach Nandan Bal.
The youngest Indian swimmer to represent in Olympics, Khade will attempt to do a Michael Phelps - numerically - by taking part in five individual and three medley events.
Having set a personal best in the 100m freestyle event in Beijing that bagged him a 42nd spot, the Kolhapur swimmer says Beijing was an "eye opener" and "here I am looking forward to bag as many medals as I can in front of the home crowd."
Flag bearer for the Indian contingent, Khade will compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle, and the 50m and 100m butterfly events and the three relay events.
Post-Beijing, where she shocked world No. 5 to make the last eight, Saina was on a high, clinching the Chinese Taipei Gold Grand Prix and then reaching the last four of the Chinese Masters recently.
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But CYG is going to be equally tough, says Saina, but it will give Indian shuttlers a chance to prepare for the World Junior Championship which will follow the CYG.
Badminton has another prospect in national champion Guru Sai Dutt who is fresh from his triumph in the Junior Dutch Open in March and coach Sanjeev Sachdeva eyes two gold and few silver or bronze medals.
Neha had a forgettable Beijing sojourn with a first round exit but the young paddler feels her training in the USA and Sweden just before coming to Pune will give her a definite chance to bag the yellow metal.
"But it's the Singaporeans and the Malaysians we have to look out for," says Neha, world ranked 19 in U-18 age group.
Bengal's Soumi Mondal, ranked 58, is another paddler to watch out for as she can give India a good chance pairing up with Neha.
In athletics, coach Suresh Babu says India have three-four good medal prospect in shot put (Jasdeep Singh, Manpreet Kaur) and triple jump (Shraddha Ghule).
Having got a fillip after the Beijing success, all eyes would be on the juniors in the three categories of shooting, boxing and wrestling.
The state government has announced a cash award of Rs 20 lakh for the gold medal winners, while Rs 10 and Rs 5 lakh will be given to the silver and bronze medallists.
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