LAUSANNE (Switzerland), April 2 Three cities will compete for the right to host the Summer Youth Olympics in 2014, the IOC said on Thursday.

Guadalajara, Mexico; Nanjing, China; and Poznan, Poland, are all in the running.

Six countries originally expressed interest to the International Olympic Committee but Indonesia, Morocco and Turkey have dropped out of the race.

The three candidates must now submit detailed bid files by September 4. The IOC executive board will select a list of finalists in December, and the full IOC membership will choose the host city at its session in Vancouver before the Winter Olympics open in February 2010.

Candidates will be encouraged to hold the games in existing stadiums and venues to keep hosting costs under control.

The 2014 event is scheduled to take place over 12 days with up to 3,500 athletes aged 14-18 competing in as many as possible of the 26 official Olympic summer sports.

Poznan was a candidate to host the first Summer Youth Games in 2010, which will be staged in Singapore. The first Winter Youth Olympics is scheduled for 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria.—AP