Paris, April 1 (PL) - The Paris Metro renamed about fifteen of its stations to greet the hosting in the City of Light of the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.

The public company operating the capital transport RATP appealed to the initiative in connection with the now traditional April 1 pranks, and the Olympic Week, which will be held from April 2 to 6 to promote the practice and values of sport, a campaign to which some 10 thousand schools will join on French soil.

Less than 120 days before the opening of the summer event, on July 26, the Victor Hugo station became "Victor Judo" for 24 hours, the Alexandre Dumas station became "Alexandre Dumaraton" and the Trocadéro station became "Trocanoa".

The Sèvres-Babylone to "Sèvres-Badminton", Solférino to "Surférino" and Nation to "Swimming", among others, also changed their names temporarily.

These are April Fools' pranks, an early spring French tradition, similar to April Fools' Day (December 28) in Spain and Latin America.

In order not to confuse passengers, the Paris Metro, through which more than four million people travel daily, changed only half of the plates of the stations concerned.