TOC’s word to Team TZ ahead of Africa Games

Local teams in action during a past beach volleyball match in Dar es Salaam. Beach volleyball and sailing have been included in the programme of the 2018 Youth African Games. PHOTO| FILE

What you need to know:

The 2018 Youth African Games will serve as qualifiers for the Youth Olympic Games scheduled for October 8 to 18 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dar es Salaam. Team Tanzania will compete in three sports, including beach volleyball, during the 2018 Youth African Games in Algeria, it has been revealed.

Beach volleyball and sailing, for the first time since the Youth Games incision in 2010, have been included in the programme of the multi-sport event.

“It`s worth mentioning that the 2018 Youth African Games in Algeria will also feature beach volleyball and sailing,” the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) secretary general, Filbert Bayi, confirmed yesterday.

Main programme of the games includes track and field events, badminton, three-a-side basketball, boxing and cycling.

The youngsters also battle it out for medals in football, judo, karate, wrestling, swimming, rugby, ping-pong, target shooting, archery, volleyball, handball, field hockey and horseracing.

According to Bayi, Team Tanzania will compete in athletics, sailing and beach volleyball in the games scheduled for July 18n to 25 in the Algerian capital of Algiers.

Bayi said beach volleyball team would comprise four players -- two of them are boys and the rest are girls --, while sailing side will consist one sailor. The Algeria Youth African Games will serve as qualifiers for the Youth Olympic Games scheduled for October 8 to 18 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This is the third time the youth games are taking place. The multi-sport event was launched in 2010 in Morocco and its second edition took place in 2014 in Gaborone, Botswana.

The games feature over 2,000 young players aged between 14 and 18 years from 51 African countries competing in 20 sports.

Meanwhile, up-and-coming runners Francis Damiano and Regina Deogratius are among athletes who will represent Tanzania in the Algeria Games.

Athletics Tanzania (AT) secretary general, Wilhelm Gidabuday said yesterday that the two runners have the potential to do Tanzanians proud in Algeria.

Last year, the duo competed in the Youth Commonwealth Games in Nassau, Bahamas, where Damiano won a bronze medal.

The TOC official urged the Team Tanzania members to be focused and diligent.