Harare — Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive Robert Mutsauki has applauded the performance of the two athletes who represented the nation at the just ended African Youth Games in Rabat, Morocco.

Sprinter Tinashe Mutanga and middle-distance runner Sithulisiwe Zhou flew the Zimbabwean flag at the inaugural games.

Mutanga scooped two gold medals in the 100m and 200m events while Zhou participated in the girls 3 000m race.

Mutanga won the boys' 100m race in 10.84s ahead of Beouda Diage of Senegal who came second in 10.93s and Zghali Abdeighani of Morocco who clocked 11.12s on Thursday.

Mutanga went on to claim his second gold medal in the 200m event after stopping the clocks in 21.85s.

Diage was forced to settle for second place again in 21.98s ahead of Omar Ceeseay of Gambia who came third in 22.55s.

Zhou had a credible showing finished sixth in the 3 000m race in 10.05.07minutes.

Mutsauki was in Morocco where he watched the two promising athletes shine.

The ZOC chief executive, speaking from Rabat yesterday said apart from putting up a splendid performance on the track, the two athletes were also good ambassadors for the nation.

"Our athletes were brilliant ambassadors for Zimbabwe. Apart from good performance, they were well behaved and were adored by other countries.

"They received support from other regional countries like Botswana and Swaziland and David Leboho did a good job of managing the team," Mutsauki said.

The ZOC boss said it was unfortunate that the Under-15 football team and the triathletes who will be at the Youth Olympics, were not able to compete in the games as they would have gained exposure and could have helped the country win more medals.

Mutsauki who was also serving in the Games' coordinating committee said the first African Youth Games were a success.

"Clearly 40 out of 53 countries for the inaugural Games is by any standard a very good turn out," he said.

The next Games will be held in 2014 before the Youth Olympic Games set for China.