Dakar YOG: two French girls entered in beach wrestling at Saly

French wrestling will be represented by two girls at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar. Emilie Bastide, at 45 kg, and Olivia Sandin Amblard, at 65 kg, will compete in the beach wrestling tournament on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November on Saly beach, about 80 km south of Dakar. The French Wrestling Federation presented its two entrants on 4 November.

Two wrestlers aged 15 and 16

Emilie Bastide was born on 22 July 2011 in Montauban and wrestles for Sporting Club Négrepelisien, in the Tarn-et-Garonne department. Olivia Sandin Amblard, born on 26 March 2010 in Clermont-Ferrand, wrestles for Bron Lutte Olympique, near Lyon. Both are in the under-17 age group, the only one open to wrestlers at these Games.

An Olympic first on sand

This is the first time beach wrestling has been on the official Youth Olympic Games programme. The tournament has eight weight classes: 45, 55, 65 and 75 kg for girls, and 60, 70, 80 and 90 kg for boys. According to USA Wrestling, United World Wrestling held no qualifying event: quota places were allocated to nations, which then picked their athletes.

Bouts are wrestled standing and barefoot in a circle drawn on the sand, with no mat. They are short and decided by takedowns and push-outs, which makes them easy for spectators to follow. The Saly venue is a temporary 3,000-seat arena.

France in Dakar

The French team has 69 athletes, 40 girls and 29 boys, across 22 of the 25 sports on the programme. The Games run until 13 November, with around 2,700 athletes from 206 nations according to the federation. Véronique Moreira is France's chef de mission.

In combat sports, judo opened proceedings from 1 to 4 November. Boxing starts on 7 November in Diamniadio and taekwondo on 8 November. Sport-Fight.net will publish the results of the two French wrestlers once the tournament ends.