NAIROBI, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) has announced plans to start an annual one day Africa tour meeting, which is similar to the Diamond League in order to provide more competition for the continent's sportsmen.
This follows a successful dry run that was held in Asaba, Nigeria last week where at least seven countries send in their athletes to compete at the meeting, on the sidelines of the Africa championships, which starts Wednesday in Nigeria.
Currently, only Rabat in Morocco has one leg of the 14-teir Diamond League. The African Tour Meet will seek to have the best African talent on show.
The trial event, which was staged in Asaba, Nigeria, was organized by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the African Senior Athletics Championship.
In a statement, CAA President Malboum Kalkaba said the African Tour will help expose African talent.
Olukayode Thomas, Head of Media and Publicity for Asaba 2018 said on Tuesday South Africa, Mozambique, Togo, Ghana, Uganda and Senegal participate in the one day meet.
The test competition serves as a dress rehearsal for the Asaba 2018 championships.
"We are ready to show the world a glimpse of what they should expect at this year's African Championships," said Yussuf Alli, Technical Director for Asaba 2018.
Alli, a two time African Long jump champion added that the Tour Meet is also meant to test run the facilities in place as well as evaluate the personnel that would man them during the African championships.
Meanwhile, after Rabat 2010, Gaborone 2014 and Algiers 2018, the fourth edition of the Africa Youth Games will take place in Maseru, Lesotho in 2022.
The games, which are reserved for athletes under 18-years-old serves as the qualifiers for the Youth Olympic Games.
This year the top athletes qualified for the Youth Olympics, which will be held in Buenos Aires from Oct. 6-18. About 3,000 boys and girls aged 14 to 18 from 54 countries and regions competed in 30 disciplines.
