Juniors stand out at Tunis Lake International regatta

The camp was held for ten days and culminated with the Tunis Lake International regatta, boosting participation in the junior category to overall highest. The camp and the regatta helped prepare these athletes for the Youth African Games, which will be held in Gaborone, Botswana at the end of May. Also present were some of the athletes who will compete in the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China in August.

The development camp also received support from the Olympic Solidarity Programme, with the backing of the Tunisian Rowing Federation. The support encouraged seven countries to take part, including nine male and seven female rowers, and seven coaches.

At the regatta eight countries participated including Algeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Libya, Togo, Sudan and Tunisia with the single sculls being the most popular event. Technical director of the Tunisian Rowing Federation, Faycal Soula, explained that the single is the most utilised boat in Africa.

Soula noted the standout performance of Nour Elhouda Ettaieb and her brother Mohamed Taieb of Tunisia who between them won four gold medals – junior men’s and women’s single sculls and lightweight men’s and women’s single sculls. Ettaieb raced last year at the World Rowing Junior Championships in the women’s double sculls while Taieb raced at the same event in the men’s single sculls.

Races took place over 1000m on Tunis Lake and overall Tunisia had the best results earning gold in 11 of the 12 boat classes. Algeria was second with gold in the men’s quadruple sculls and Libya was third.

The regatta was used as a test for national team selection by Algeria, Tunisia and Libya who used it to help select members of their 2014 under-23 crews.

The next main event on the rowing calendar in Africa is the 10th African Championships which will take place on the Boukerdan Dam in Tipaza, Algeria in October 2014.

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