Fired up for Africa Youth Games

LIMBA MUPETAMI Namibia will participate in multiple sporting disciplines at this year's African Youth Games (AYG), which will take place in Algeria from tomorrow until 28 July.Organised by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), the youth games brings together the continent's youth, who will compete in a host of sporting competitions.Namibia will compete in athletics, swimming, archery, boxing, cycling, equestrian sports, gymnastics, karate, table tennis, tennis, archery, cycling, hockey (girls and boys), rugby, triathlon and wrestling.Ahead of the event, selection and preparations were intense, in order to ensure the successful participation of the Namibian athletes. To qualify, athletes needed to be ranked in the top five in Africa and the team sports were selected by international federations.At the official send-off for the team last Wednesday, sports permanent secretary Emma Kantema-Gaomas encouraged the athletes to perform above expectations. “In a short span of time we have witnesses team Namibia transforming into a team to be reckoned with, following victories at the Commonwealth Games and several other games, and now once again you have made us proud by qualifying for the African Youth Games, so go out and make us proud,” she said.The team received financial help from the sports ministry, as well as the leftover funds from the 2018 Australia Commonwealth Games budget.This allowed athletes who were previously dropped from the trip to also join the team, according to Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) chief administrator Freddy Mwiya.The African Youth Games is an international multisport event held every four years to complement the All-Africa Games. The first games took place in Rabat, Morocco. The second youth games took place in Gaborone, Botswana from 22 to 31 May 2014.Namibia finished 10th out of 42 countries in 2014, while bagging 25 medals – four gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze. The African Youth Games targets the 14 to 18 age group, and contributes to the development of African sport, while nurturing the Olympic values.It is also seen as a trial run for the Olympic Games.It also acts as qualifiers for a number of disciplines in the Youth Olympics, which will be held later this year in Argentina.The AYG will serve as a qualification event for the Youth Olympic Games in the following sport codes: athletics, beach volleyball, hockey, karate, rowing, rugby sevens and triathlon.

Fired up for Africa Youth Games

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-29

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Fired up for Africa Youth Games

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-29

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