Eight set for Africa Youth Games |08 July 2010

Team Seychelles will leave the country early Sunday morning on board a regular Qatar Airways flight and will reach Casablanca the following day (Monday) after a 15-hour stopover in Doha.

Seychellois athletes will compete in five of the 16 sports – track & field athletics, boxing, judo, swimming and table tennis.

The two track & field representatives are Marie-Michelle Athanase (200m) and Carlos Marianne (200m and 400m), and they will compete at the Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex.

Boxer Andrique Allisop will cross swords with opponents in the ring in the 57kg division.
Competing in the 55kg class, judoka Carlos Labiche is expected in action on July 16 at the Bouazzaoui Gym.

In swimming, Aurelie Fanchette (50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 50m breaststroke, 100m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 200m freestyle and 400m freestyle) and Shane Mangroo (50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 100m butterfly) will be in action at the Mohamed V Swimming Complex.

Table tennis players Christy Bristol and Anil Nibourette will take part in the singles and mixed doubles events at the Derfoufi indoor gym

Except for swimming which will take place in Casablanca, all the other sports will be in Rabat.
Coaches Giovanni Fanny (athletics), Rival Payet (boxing), Francis Labrosse (judo), Barnsley Albert (swimming) and Jimmy Vel (table tennis) will also form part of the Seychelles delegation headed by Hebetty Alcindor of the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association.

The delegation is expected back on Thursday July 22.
The other 11 sports disciplines at these Games are rowing, basketball, canoe kayak, cycling, fencing, football, weightlifting, wrestling, taekwondo, tennis, and shooting

Originally set to be held in May, the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (Anoca) agreed to stage the event from July 13-18 as most countries are using the Games to prepare their young athletes for the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August.

The Games will bring together some 1,200 female and male athletes aged 15 to 17 from the continent. 
Morocco has received US$1 million from Anoca to help stage the African Youth Games which are expected to be held every four years, just like the Youth Olympic Games.

G.G