Gaborone 2014 kicks-off second edition of African Youth Games

The second African Youth Games got underway in Gaborone, Botswana, yesterday ayg2014as the city prepares to welcome around 2,500 athletes from 54 countries for 10 days of competition.

The Games will see athletes competing across 21 sports – athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, fencing, football, golf, judo, karate, netball, rowing, rugby, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball and weightlifting.

Competition will take place in 13 venues across the Botswanan capital.

The Opening and Closing ceremonies, along with rugby and football events, will take place at the National Stadium, while the University of Botswana Stadium and University of Botswana Swimming Pool will host the athletics and swimming competitions respectively.

The Gaborone Golf Club and Gaborone Dam will stage golf and the canoeing and rowing events respectively, with table tennis and basketball set for the Botswana National Youth Centre.

The 1,500-capacity National Tennis Centre will see the African continent’s best young tennis talent take to the courts, while the Boipuso Hall will stage karate and weightlifting with judo and taekwondo scheduled for the Ditshupo Hall.

The Otse Police College, located around 35 kilometres outside the main Athletes’ Village in Gaborone, will be the setting for triathlon, while the Sir SeretseKhama Barracks will also stage some of the football matches with boxing being staged at the Botho Multi-Purpose College and netball scheduled for the BONA Courts.

The mountain biking competition will be held around the River Walk area of Gaborone with the road cycling events scheduled to make their way through the streets of the city, while the volleyball events will be at the Molepolole Institute of Health Sciences.

The National Stadium in Gaborone will host the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 African Youth Games tomorrow ©Gaborone 2014The National Stadium in Gaborone will host the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 African Youth Games tomorrow ©Gaborone 2014.

The Athletes’ Village is located at the University of Botswana and, as well as being home to the 2,500 competitors, will also house around 1,000 coaches and team officials.

This year will be the second edition of the Games following on from the inaugural event held in Rabat, Morocco, in 2010.

Aimed at athletes aged 14 to 18, the Games tries to offer African athletes a platform to prepare for the Olympic Games; contribute to the development of African sport; foster Olympic values on the continent; and professionalise the organisation of sports competitions in Africa.

Similar to the first Games in Rabat, Gaborone will also feature an education and cultural programme, which aims to promote the arts and culture of the host country Botswana and Africa as a whole.

In March this year Algiers, Algeria was announced as the host for the 2018 Afrcian Youth Games.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *