Trinidad and Tobago beach volleyballers Chelsi Ward and Malika Davidson advanced to the round of 24 while  athlete Akanni Hislop qualified for the Men's 200m A final when the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games continued in the southern Chinese city yesterday.
Despite losing their last group E game against Bolivia in two straight sets (2-0-21-14, 21-12),  the T&T pair finished in fourth spot in their grouping, after China lost to Germany in straight sets to qualify for the next stage of the competition at the Youth Olympic Sports Park.
At the Nanjing Olympic Sport Stadium, Hislop was third in heat one of three of  the Men's 200m event,  crossing the line in 21.42 seconds behind the USA's Noah Lyles 20.71 and Japan's Jun Yamashita (21.11),  both recording personal bests.
Hislop bolted from lane five and was on pace but Lyles and Yamashita handle the bend better and held their form and stride to the finish. Hislop occupied the eighth and final qualifying position for the Men's 200 m A final which will run off Sunday.
It was another day of no races for Trinidad and Tobago's young sailor Abigail Affoo at Jinniu Lake,  plagued by no winds.

Also today,  Memphis Pioneer hurdler Jeminise Parris,  currently ranked fourth, will vy for precious metal in the A finals of the Women' 100​m hurdles.

Trinidad and Tobago' s top junior swimmer Dylan Carter splashed to this country's first medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing yesterday.
Carter grabbed bronze in the Men's 50 m freestyle at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Natatorium.
And Carter will also splash for a medal today when he contests the finals of the Men's 50 m butterfly today after he qualified second. Female T&T hurdler Jeminise Parris will also run for a medal in the Women's 100 m hurdles A finals on Saturday after she qualified with the fourth fastest time in  yesterday's prelims. Back at the Natatorium, with his customary great start,  Carter led up to 20 metres in the Men's 50m free final but China's Hexin Yu proved too strong and reeled him back in before surging past to post a new junior world record of 22.00. Brazilian Matheus de Santana was second in 22.43 and Carter third in 22.53.
Carter had qualified for the final in 22.49 in the semifinals.
Carter also secured his spot in the Men's 50 m butterfly final today when he won semifinal two in 24.04 seconds. He will be hoping to reverse fortunes with his  Chinese rival Yu today who had the fastest qualifying time in semifinal one in 24.03 seconds.
Carter earlier qualified for the semifinals with a 24.01 timing,  the fastest out of the heats.  But the Men's 50m butterfly semifinals came 50 minutes after the Men's 50m free final.
At the Olympic Sports Center Stadium, the Memphis Pioneer athlete Parris posted a new PR of 13.62 to finish second in her heat and advance to the A final Saturday.  Her teammate Kashief King ran a 48.66 second clocking for the Men's 400m event,  finishing third in his heat but not good enough for a spot in the A final.  King will compete in the B final Saturday.

At the  Jinniu Lake yesterday, T&T sailor Abigail Affoo competed in three races , placing 29th , 30th and a much improved 15th respectively.
Today,  Chelsea James will launch her YOG campaign  in the Women's shot putt while swimmer Johnnya Ferdinand will dive into action in the Women's 50m free.
And the beach volleyball pair of Chelsi Ward and Malika Davidson will look to book their spot in the next round of 24 with a win against Bolivia at the Youth Olympic Sports Park.

Trinidad and Tobago swimmer Dylan Carter will compete for gold from 6pm. (6 a.m TT time) tomorrow in the Men's 50m freestyle at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.
The women's volleyball team of Chelsi Ward and Malika Davidson earned their first points of the campaign when they defeated Congo 2-0 (21-19, 21-9)
at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre Natatorium yesterday,  the World Junior silver medallist Carter secured a final spot in swimming's blue riband event when he won semifinal one in a PR of 22.49 seconds.
Carter had the quickest reaction off the blocks in 0.59 seconds but his hands became separated in his streamline underwater and the 18-year old University of Southern California sophomore broke roughly to the surface. His class shone through as he was still able to be the first to the 15m mark and drew away from the rest of the field to touch the Omega time pad first.
After the second semifinal which was won by home crowd favourite Hexin Lu in a new junior world record time of 22.01 ahead of Brazilian Matheus de Santana (22.48), Carter will swim out of lane three in the final as the third fastest seed.
In the morning preliminaries, Carter won heat six of seven in a then new PR of 22.65, which bettered his previous mark of 23.01 from last year's FINA  World Junior Championships in Dubai. He was also ranked second out of the heats behind heat seven winner de Santana (22.55) while Lu won heat four in 22.79.
His teammate David Mc Leod missed out on a semifinal spot in the Men's 50m backstroke (26.78) by five hundredths of a second,  placing 17th.
At the Youth Olympic Sport Park,  Ward and Davidson overcame a slow start to run over Congo.
The pair were down 16-19 but rattled off five straight uncontested points to seal the set.
The T&T team got off to a fast start, up 8-0 and played a serve and defend game to see out the set and earn the victory.
After a rest day today, T&T play the winless China then Bolivia Friday.

At the Jinniu Lake yesterday , young sailor Abigail Affoo and the rest of youth sailors were left stranded as low winds prevented any races from being run at the course. Conditions permitting, racing resumes today.
In Athletics,  Jeminise Parris tackles the Women's 100m hurdles while Kashief King runs in the Men's 400m.

A special signing ceremony has taken place here today to mark a new partnership between the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) and the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF).

The agreement, signed at the Fairmont Hotel  on the eve of the Summer Youth Olympic Games here, will see exchange programmes and opportunities for collaboration between officials, staff, athletes and coaches from the two bodies.

The agreement was signed by a group, including JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda and French counterpart Denis Masseglia.

Former canoeist Tony Estanguet, a triple Olympic gold medallist, the French Chef de Mission at Nanjing 2014 and, like Takeda, a member of the International Olympic Committee, was also present, along with JOC vice-president and secretary general Tsuyoshi Aoki.

Both parties will exchange marketing knowledge and pool information on the Olympic Movement.

French athletes will use the facilities at the National Training Centre in Tokyo, while their Japanese counterparts will take advantage of the National Institute of Sport and Physical Education, in Paris.

It is hoped this will boost the two countries to perform better than they did at the London 2012 Olympic Games, where France were seventh on the medals table and Japan 11th.

This brings the number of deals between the JOC and other National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to 30, over a decade since an initial partnership was signed with the the Austrian and Cuban Olympic Committees in 2002.

Agreements with the United States, Germany and China soon followed, the latter particularly interesting given the current antagonism between the two countries showcased by the boos which greeted the Japanese Flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony of Nanjing 2014 this evening.

Other partnerships have taken place with NOC's ranging from Barbados to Bhutan, and from Panama to Egypt.

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The Argentine Olympic Committee (COA) has signed an agreement with the Universidad Nacional del Litoral which will offer students the opportunity to undertake a course focusing specifically on the Olympic Movement.

It is the first time a course like this will be on offer in Argentina for university students.

The Universidad Nacional del Litoral caters for around 40,000 students, who will now have the opportunity to choose the sport, culture and values ​​of Olympism module as part of their studies.

The agreement was signed by COA secretary general Mario Moccia and Rector of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Albor Cantard.

Moccia gave a lecture to students on the Olympic Movement following the signing of the agreement.

"[The] spread and reach each one of the areas that have to do with sports and education in terms of contributing our bit to the education system is one of the purposes of the Committee," said Moccia.

"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) aims to transform society through sport, seeking to be better people and trying to contribute to education."

Moccia also spoke about the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games due to take place in Argentine capital Buenos Aires and the impact they will have on youth sport in the country.

Buenos Aires was awarded the Games at a meeting of the IOC Extraordinary Session in Lausanne last year ahead of bids from Glasgow in Britain and Colombian city Medellin.

"This is a historical fact," he said.

"Choosing the host city is a complicated process.

"Argentina was presented five times [for the Olympics] and recently was chosen to the Games for the first time.

"We need to prioritise sport because it is a hub for social inclusion, to improve the quality of life and to contribute to the training of young people."

Moccia was joined at the signing of the historic agreement by the COA's general manager Carlos Ferrea, President of the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws, José Luis Marco and director of its Olympic Education Programme Silvia Dalotto.

Dalotto, a former marathon swimming world champion, also gave an address on the Olympic Movement and Olympic Education.

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England have banished the heartache of three successive Women's Rugby World Cup final losses with a hard-fought triumph in tonight's final over a battling Canadian side.

Having drawn 13-13 when they met in the pool stages of the competition, England and Canada came to the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris knowing there would be little to choose between them.

And so it proved, as final debutants Canada kept the pressure on the favourites throughout, before England finished with a flurry to secure a 21-9 win and lift the World Cup for the first time in 20 years.

It was a penalty kick from the boot of Emily Scarratt that handed England the early lead.

But try as they might, Canada's defence proved to be a tricky obstacle to overcome.

England doubled their lead with another penalty kick, but it was not until just after the half-hour mark that the first try of the final came.

Maggie Alphonsi sent full back Danielle Waterman, starting her third Rugby World Cup final, on her way to launch the England fans in the stands into raptures.

Canada had the final say of the half, with Magali Harvey's penalty making it 11-3 at the break.

The Canadians emerged from the tunnel with renewed confidence, and had just a two-point deficit after two Harvey penalties.

But they almost immediately conceded a penalty to allow Scarratt to restore a five-point cushion for England on the hour mark.

It was not until the final six minutes that England put the contest beyond doubt.

Scarratt glided through the Canadian defence to score a decisive try, which she converted for a 12-point lead.

The final whistle was too close for Canada to be able to respond.

"All credit to Canada, they were fantastic today, but this group of girls and this group of staff deserve everything that we have got because we have worked so hard for this," said jubilant England captain Katy McLean.

"So many great legends that have gone before us haven't won [a World Cup] in an England shirt and that was for all them that were here today and for all of the England rugby family."

England last won the tournament in 1994 with a 38-23 win over the United States.

New Zealand have won the last four World Cups, beating England in the finals of the last three.

But they failed to make it into the semi-finals for the first time in their history.

In the third place playoff, hosts France beat Ireland 25-18 in a tight affair.

New Zealand secured fifth with a 55-5 hammering of the United States, Australia claimed seventh by beating Wales 30-3, Spain thumped South Africa 36-0 to seal ninth, while Samoa finished 11th in the classification with a 31-0 win over Kazakhstan.

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