Buenos Aires will host the third edition of the summer Youth Olympic Games from 6 to 18 October 2018. The YOG has taken place for the very first time in Singapore in 2010, followed by Nanjing (China) in 2014.
The YOG Values
The Youth Olympic Games is the world’s largest multi-sport event for high-performance young athletes, that aims at inspiring athletes to embrace the Olympic values of Respect, Friendship, and Excellence.
The event, promoted by the the International Olympic Committee (IOC), gathers young athletes aged between 15 and 18 and is held every four years. With two editions, winter and summer, the YOG is held every two years alternately.
Off the sports field, athletes also participate with spectators in various educational and cultural activities that promote Olympism.
Table Tennis at the YOG
The road to Buenos Aires enable 29 male and 29 female table tennis athletes to pursuit the qualification places through six Continental Qualification Events, six “Road to Buenos Aires 2018 series” events and through the ITTF Under-18 World Ranking as of July 2018. Additionally 2 Host Country and 4 Universality places will be made available
Athletes born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2003, in compliance with the Olympic Charter are eligible for YOG, and may compete in the following events:
–Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles and Mixed Teams.
The YOG qualification period is comprised between 1st April 2017 and 23rd July 2018.
In summary 64 athletes will be selected, 32 men and 32 women as follows:
24 athletes already qualified for the YOG through the Continental Qualification Events (Results as of 5 Nov 2017)
– YOG Continental Qualification, Africa at Tunis, TUN from 16th – 17th April 2017 ( 2 men & 2 women)
Men: Youssef Abdel Aziz (Egypt), Nathael Hamdoun (Tunisia)
Women: Esther Oribamise (Nigeria), Marwa Alhodaby (Egypt)
2018 Youth Olympic Games place for Nigeria’s Esther Oribamise.(Photo: Rémy Gros)
Marwa Alhodady, secured 2018 Buenos Aires YOG qualification (Photo: Mario Samec)
Youssef Abdel Aziz, Egypt. (Photo: Kalode Aremu)
Tunisia’s Nathael Hamdoun at 2018 Youth Olympic Games qualification event (Photo: Mokhtar Hmima)
– YOG Continental Qualification, Latin America at Santo Domingo, DOM, from 12th – 14th May 2017 (2 men & 2 women)
Men: Nicolas Burgos (Chile), Guillerme Teodoro (Brazil)
Women: Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico), Bruna Takahashi (Brazil)
Success for Brazil, success for Guilherme Teodoro (left) and (right) Bruna Takahashi (Photo: Freddy Almendariz)
Nicolas Burgos (left) and (right) Adriana Diaz emerged successful in the first knock-out event at the Buenos Aires 2018 Latin American Qualification Tournament (Photo: Manuel Perez)
– YOG Continental Qualification, Europe at Split, CRO, from 3rd – 5th November 2017 (4 men & 4 women)
Men: Ioannis Sgouropoulos (Greece), Vladimir Sidorenko (Russia), Medardas Stankievicius (Lithuania), Vladislav Urdu (Moldova)
Women: Lucie Gauthier (France), Mariia Tailakova (Russia), Ning Jing (Azerbaijan), Nadezhda Bogdanova (Belarus)
The qualifiers (left to right) Vladimir Sidorenko, Ioannis Sgouropoulos, Mariia Tailakova, Lucie Gauthier, (Photo: courtesy of Organising Committee)
Places in Buenos Aires booked (left to right) Ning Jing, Nadezhda Bogdanova, Vladislav Ursu, Medardas Stankevicius (Photo: courtesy of Croatia Table Tennis Association)
– YOG Continental Qualification, Asia at Ahmedabad, IND, from 3rd – 5th November 2017 (4 men & 4 women)
Men: Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan), Lin Yun-Ju (Chinese Taipei), Wang Chuqin (China), Cho Daeseong (Korea)
Women: Miu Hirano (Japan), Su Pei-Ling (China), Jinnipa Sawettabut (Thailand), Su Pei-Ling (Chinese Taipei)
The players who qualified following the Asian Continental YOG qualifier (Left to right) Jinnipa Sawettabut, Tomokazu Harimoto, Su Pei-Ling, Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha, Cho Daeseong, Miu Hirano, Lin Yu-Ju (Photo: courtesy of Table Tennis Federation of India)
Four places to be disputed at the forthcoming Continental Qualification Events
The YOG Continental Qualification, Oceania to be held at Bendigo, AUS, from 11th – 12th November 2017 will open the door to two additional athletes (1 man & 1 woman) to take part at the Buenos Aires YOG.
Las Vegas, USA, will host the last YOG Continental Qualification, for North America, starting from 19th to 20th December 2017. Two players (1 man & 1 woman) will secure a place at the 2018 YOG.
Next YOG qualification places to be disputed through the “Road to Buenos Aires 2018 series”
The “Road to Buenos Aries 2018 series” is a series of six special competitions for athletes in the YOG age category, held in pair with the ITTF Junior Circuit competitions. Only one athlete per competition per gender may represent each NOC.
Two direct elimination competitions, on two consecutive days, will award qualification to the top ranked athletes in each gender per competition from NOCs still not qualified through continental qualification events. 12 quota places will be awarded per gender (12 Men & 12 Women).
ITTF Under-18 World Ranking: Table Tennis last YOG spots to be determined
Finally, the top three ranked age-eligible athletes on the ITTF Under-18 World Ranking as of July 2018, from a NOC not yet qualified through Continental Qualification Events and/or Road to Buenos Aires 2018 series, will qualify for the YOG.
To view the BuenosAires 2018 Qualification System for TableTennis click here
For complete information about the Continental Qualification Table Tennis Events click here
To view the 3rd Summer Youth Olympic Games – Buenos Aires 2018 Olympic Programme click here
To access the Olympic Charter click here
To visit the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games website here