MATABELELAND North province, hosts of this year’s annual National Youth Games, has started preparations for the tournament.

Government rebranded the annual Youth Games to feature about 21 disciplines, subject to availability of facilities in the province.

The local organising committee (LOC) held a meeting on Friday to revive structures that spearheaded preparations for the Youth Education through Sports (YES) Games, which were held inHwange last year.

LOC chief executive officer Burzil Dube said 1 870 athletes will be expected from each province for the August games.

“Besides taking stock of the recent (YES) games, we have started preparing for the Youth Games of which you know the number of disciplines has been increased. As a province, we were looking at these disciplines where each province is expected to bring about 1 870 athletes,” said Dube.

He said the meeting focused on available facilities in Hwange, with the possibility of spreading some to Victoria Falls and Lupane.

Dube said 75 percent of the facilities are available in Hwange, but a few need a facelift.

A team from the Sports and Recreation Commission is expected to visit the province to assess the state of facilities.

Dube said the LOC was waiting for confirmation of the visit by the SRC team so that work begins.

The annual games, which over the years featured eight disciplines, will this year include cycling, swimming, martial arts, gymnastics, golf, darts, chess, table tennis and pool, in addition to the traditional disciplines such as soccer, netball, volleyball, basketball, handball and athletics, among others.

The National Youth Games are preceded by the YES games and are part of a national strategy aimed at identifying sporting talent among the youths and nurturing it. - @ncubeleon