As well as a chance to bring you some live fencing, weightlifting and taekwondo coverage, it will also provide an opportunity to test the venue Wi/Fi systems here. Problems have been reported at some competition venues, with IOC President Thomas Bach insisting yesterday that they were working with the Organising Committee to rectify these soon.

First gold for China

The 1st golden medal of #Nanjing2013 has come out in Women's 48kg #weightlifting! Congrats to #China's Jiang Huihua!
- It looks like Nanjing 2014 remember Huihua's achievements from last year. 

16:43 Jiang Huihua has won China's first gold medal of Nanjing 2014 with victory in the women's 48kg weightlifting competition.

The 16-year-old lifted 88kg in the snatch before adding 105kg in the clean & jerk to seal the win on a total of 193kg.

Her closest competitor was North Korea's Songgum Ri who finished with a total of 165kg for silver.

Latvia's Rebeka Koha took bronze with 165kg, however, missed out on silver due to a higher body weight than the North Korean.




16:40 A quick update on the boys and girls beach volleyball competitions following the withdrawal of teams from Sierra Leone and Nigerian as a consequence of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Rather than redraw the groups, the FIVB decided that all matches involving the players would still count, but would be automatically forfeited due to the players absence.

"According to the recent IOC communications, it is confirmed that both the men and women teams from Nigeria and Sierra Leone will not play any matches in the beach volleyball Tournaments of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games due to 'force majeure'," said FIVB beach volleyball delegate Marco "Tullio" Teixeira.

"All their matches will be treated as forfeits according to FIVB Specific Competition Regulation."

"Since we did not know the official status of the Nigeria and Sierra Leone players at the time of our technical meeting, we completed the drawing of groups as scheduled.

"It is unfortunate that the athletes from those two countries cannot compete and we all wish them well."

This means the Nigerian teams of Phillip Akande/Samuel Morris, and Hajara Audu/Bitrus Jummai, and the Sierra Leone pairings of Abubakarr Kamara/Patrick Lombi, and Kadiatu Conteh/Aminata Turay will all be forfeited. Teams from Turkey and Switzerland duly received byes this morning.

With nine days of beach volleyball competition, the five days of pool play matches for both male and female participants ends on Friday (August 22). The top four teams from each group advance to the single-elimination bracket rounds starting two days later at the 2,000-seat venue at the Nanjing Sports Park Complex.

Ruggiero's words of wisdom 



16:25 United States Olympic ice hockey star and IOC member Angela Ruggiero, who won four Olympic gold medals as part of the US ice hockey team including gold at Nagano 1998, paid a visit to the US rugby sevens squad during its jersey ceremony yesterday.

The vice-chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission gave the team a number of words of wisdom ahead of their opening fixture with Spain this morning.

1. "Approach every game like there's a scout in the stands and you're trying to make the Olympic Team." This piece of advice came from Ruggiero's father and it struck a chord with some of the rugby athletes the most. 

2. "Have you ever played bubble hockey? I love this imagery of having something that shields you from the rest of the world. In bubble hockey, it's the bubble — you can kind of see the crowd, you can see what's going on, you can hear the crowd but it's muffled. You know things are going on around you, but what are you focused on? The game — right now, the present moment. Don't play for Rio in two years; don't play for tomorrow. Play for today."

3. "Rugby sevens is 14 minutes, it's a short game. Every moment is going to count for you guys. Everything that you do and everything your teammates do is going to affect one another. Be as focused as you can and do whatever head games you need to do to be focused."

4. "At the most elite level, the biggest difference isn't the body — it's the mind. It's who can use their body by utilising what's going on upstairs."

5. "Play as a team. You can't do it alone; rely on your team mates. Talk to each other out on the field, recognise what's going on. You're going to need each other for different reasons. Draw strength from that. If you get through the next few days and you rely on each other and you're successful, you guys will know each other for the rest of your lives because you'll have shared such a special moment and such a unique experience that you'll never forget. So make sure you believe in yourselves first."

6. "Having women's hockey in the Olympics changed everything for our sport. That's something you have to consider. You're pioneers. You're setting the stage for future. It's a really cool thing to know you're an ambassador. Back home, they'll know about rugby even before Rio because of you. You're an inspiration. I know you don't want the pressure, but you should never forget you're an ambassador.

Huihua on course for first Chinese medal 



16:10 The snatch contest has now concluded in the women's 48kg weightlifting and, unsurprisingly, it's China's Jiang Huihua who leads after a lift of 88kg.

Huihua's victory in last year's Asian Youth Games was the first gold medal of the Championships, with the youngster on course to collect the host's first medal of any colour here at the Youth Olympic Games.

She was actually handed her gold at the Asian Youth Games by none other than Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad Al-Sabah, head of the Olympic Council of Asia as well as the Association of National Olympic Committees.

In fact, insidethegames published a report on her victory here last year. Read it here. 

Rugby sevens reaction

"Old meets new here with Jacques Rogge watching rugby sevens' Youth Olympic debut! China have beaten Canada in a big upset in the women's tournament! Good crowd too!"
- IRB director of communications Dominic Rumbles updates insidethegames on the rugby sevens action earlier on. The second round of matches are just about to begin.

More on Persson/Liqin



A bit of a history lesson on Jörgen Persson and Wang Liqin after that delightful #YOGselfie from earlier. 

Persson is arguably one of the last players to challenge the Chinese dominance of table tennis in recent years. The Swede has represented Sweden in every Olympic Games since the sport was introduced into the Olympic programme back in 1988. He has collected nine European and five world title in his time, dating back to the 1986 European Championships in Prague.

Liqin is a double Olympic champion having taken gold in the team event at Beijing 2008 and the doubles event at Sydney 2000. He has collected 11 World Championship gold medals, including three in the singles, and was number one in the ITTF world rankings for 25 consecutive months from September 2000 to September 2002.

The pair met at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with Liqin coming out on top of a gruelling bronze medal match.

Look above for a glimpse of the duo's encounter.

Mascot malfunction 



15:40 It appears one of the official Nanjinglele mascot's had some technical difficulties during last night's Opening Ceremony.

Maybe there was a pebble stuck in the wheel...

Breaking: Samsung Electronics has extended its deal to be a worldwide TOP sponsor of the International Olympic Committee until the end of 2020.

15:30 They are the 11th company to do so in a major boost for the IOC as it continues to build its financial security into the future.

The extension of the partnership was made official during a Signing Ceremony on the sidelines of the Games here between IOC President Thomas Bach, and Samsung Electronics vice-chairman Jay Y Lee.

"We are delighted to be able to continue our partnership with Samsung," said Bach.

"The funding generated by the TOP Programme directly supports the staging of every Olympic Games, as well as every one of the National Olympic Committees, enabling athletes from all over the world to prepare for and compete at each Games.

"Samsung also supports the operations of each Games by providing leading wireless telecommunications and technology equipment.

"In addition, Samsung's technologies and global marketing reach will engage fans around the world with the Olympic values and the Olympic Movement