Africa adds qualifiers for Youth Olympic Games

Held on Lake Tunis in Tunis, Tunisia, the qualification regatta concluded with Egypt earning spots in the men's pair, men's single sculls and women's single sculls. Tunisia earned YOG spots in the men's single sculls, women's single sculls and women's pair. Zimbabwe qualified in the men's single sculls and women's single sculls.

The regatta attracted 17 nations including Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal, Sudan, Togo Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

This is the first time that continental qualification regattas have been held for the YOG. For the remaining two, the Asian YOG Qualification Regatta has just been completed in Samarkand, Uzbekistan (results to follow soon). The Latin American YOG Qualification Regatta will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay in March 2014.

The Youth Olympic Games is an initiative of the International Olympic Committee based around five main themes: Olympism, Social Responsibility, Skills Development, Expression and Well-being and Healthy Lifestyles. It aims to bring together talented young athletes aged from 15 to 18 from around the world. There are 26 events in the Games, rowing being one of them with events raced over 1000m in the men's and women's pair and men's and women's single sculls.

The first and primary qualification opportunity was the 2013 World Rowing Junior Championships with 11 spots allocated for each of the four events. Each continental qualification regatta has three more spots in the men's and women's single and one qualification spot in the men's and women's pair.

For detailed information on qualification go to World Rowing's Youth Olympic Games page.
Official YOG website: http://www.nanjing2014.org/en/