T&T's swimmer David Mc Leod and T&T Volleyballers Chelsi Ward and Malika Davidson will be the first athletes to compete for this country on the opening day of the 2014 Nanjing Youth Games.
Mc Leod will splash into action in the first of two events he is entered in today from 10.30 am in Nanjing when he lines up in heat two of the men's 100m backstroke splash from lane two at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Natatorium alongside
Jamaican Timothy Wynter, Korea's Sukgyu Song, Canada's Javier Acevdeo, Hong Kong's Shiu Yue Lau, Estonian Karl Johann Luht and Danail Slavchev of Bulgaria For the event, the Mc Leod who turned 18 on Friday is seeded 29th.
However, first in action today for T&T will beach volleyball duo, Ward and Davidson against Germany's Sarah Schneider and Lisa Arnholdt at 8:00 pm (8:00 am local time) at the Youth Olympic Sport Park in Group E action in the 36-team competition. Group E is one of six groups and also includes Indonesia, Congo, Bolivia and hosts China.
Ward and Davidson sealed their ticket to the Youth Olympic Games after easing past Suriname's Sigourney Kame and Cabriella Bouterse 21-13, 21-6 in their Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association Zonal NORCECA qualifiers which was held at Maracas Beach, last November.
This is the second major tournament for the T&T duo after they participated at the FIVB Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championship in Croatia, also in 2013.Yesterday, World junior silver medallist, swimmer Dylan Carter was the flag bearer for the local contingent at the official opening ceremony in an event which features some 4,000 athletes from 204 countries in the second edition of the 15-day quadrennial Games, whose inaugural event was in Singapore in 2010. The 18-year-old Carter who attends the University of Southern Califonia is this country's top junior swimmer and competed in his first senior open meet for T&T at the recently concluded Glasgow Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, Scotland.
He is spearheading the 11-member T&T YOG team that also includes fellow swimmer Johnnya Ferdinand, track and field athletes Jeminise Parris, Kashief King, Aduwelle Wright, Akani Hislop and Chelsea James and sailor Abigail Affoon.
Interested persons can follow the progress of the T&T team at the T&T Olympic Committee (T&TOC) social media websites, twitter www.ttoc.org and the Games' website www.nanjing2014.org/en