NAMIBIAN gymnasts are looking to put on a good showing at the 10th Junior and Senior African Gymnastics Championships and the African Continental Games qualifiers for the 2010 Youth Olympics that began in Walvis Bay on Sunday.

Together with 13 international judges, over 400 participants from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Morocco and Cape Verde the event is the biggest and most important gymnastics championships to be held on the African continent.

The gymnasts will compete in artistic, rhythmic, trampoline and aerobic gymnastics formats. Competition is tough, but the President of the Namibian Gymnastics Federation, Valereis Geldenhuys is optimistic about Namibia's chances of getting podium places on home soil. Geldenhuys informed The Namibian Sport that everything is on track for the competition.

"We are hoping to get more than one person on the podium. It's going to be hectic but we also hope that we get a fair number of our gymnasts to qualify for the Youth Olympics," she said.

"Everything is going well. The preparations have been excellent so we expect the competition to run smoothly as well."

The championships also feature top delegates from the code, including the President of the World Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Bruno Grandi, the first Vice President and Medical Chairperson of the FIG, Dr Michel Legalise and the Deputy Secretary General of the world body, Nicolas Buompane.

The Indoor Complex at Sports Road in Walvis Bay is the venue for the championships which will end on March 13.