With Senegal poised to become the first African country to host an Olympic event with the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2026, African representation is one of the pillars of the Participation Principles set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The YOG will be held in Senegal’s capital city Dakar from 31 October to 14 November 2026, and badminton is one of 25 sports on the competition programme. Additionally, there are 10 sports on the engagement programme. Overall, the YOG offers 2700 athlete quotas in 151 events.
The badminton competition, consisting of only singles events, will take place from 1-5 November 2026. Each singles event will have 32 entries.
Given the opportunity that such a mega-event holds for sports development in Africa, the IOC has pushed for maximum possible representation from the continent. All 54 African National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will be prioritised in allocation of quota places, and where possible, all African NOCs will have minimum representation of two male and two female athletes.
Apart from African representation, the other pillars defined in the Participation Principles are: Universality; Continental Representation; Host Country Representation; Athlete Performance, and Gender Equality.
The Participation Principles are part of the approach to deliver Games that fit with the local and regional context, to reduce YOG-related costs and travel, and to reduce workload for NOCs and International Federations (IFs).
The Universality principle seeks to ensure participation of athletes from 206 NOCs and the Refugee Olympic Team, with a minimum of one male and one female athlete in their delegation.
Each sport and discipline will have continental and host country representation.
An equal number of quota places for male and female athletes has been set to ensure gender equality.
To limit cost, there will not be any qualification events organised by the IFs.
The maximum age for participants is 17 years old at the time of the Games, which includes the Closing Ceremony.
NOCs have exclusive authority over the selection of their athletes at the Games, ensuring they fulfil age and IF eligibility requirements.
Athletes who are on a development pathway will have priority allocation of quotas.
To be eligible to participate in the badminton competition at the YOG, all athletes must have:
Click here for Participation Principles at Dakar 2026