The New Zealand Olympic Committee has announced the squad for the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games ©NZOC

The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) has named a team of 34 athletes aged between 14 and 18 to represent the country at The Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games.

Members of the team will compete in athletics, beach volleyball, boxing, cycling and swimming.

The team includes distance runners Hannah O'Connor and Katrina Robinson and shot putter Nick Palmer.

Dylan Simpson, who was a 2016 National under-17 Men’s School Championships gold medallist, will be joined by Jenna Merrick and Abigail Morton in cycling.

Swimming will be represented by 11 athletes aiming to emulate the success of the previous Games in Samoa in 2015, where they brought home eight of New Zealand’s total of 20 medals.

Laticia Transom, who won two medals at the recent New Zealand Open Championships, and Lewis Clareburt lead the swimming team.

New Zealand won 20 medals at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa ©Getty Images
New Zealand won 20 medals at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa ©Getty Images

The squad is completed with five athletes competing in boxing and four in beach volleyball.

“We are delighted to name the 34 young athletes today as members of the Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games team and wish them well as they head to their first multi-sport event,” said NZOC chief executive Kereyn Smith.

“We know how important this games will be in their future development as athletes.”

The Games, first staged in 2000, are due to be held between July 19 and 23.

It will be the largest international sporting event ever staged in The Bahamas and the biggest edition of the Games with up to 1,300 athletes aged between 14 and 18 set to participate.

The event will see 94 medals contested across athletics, beach soccer, boxing, road cycling, judo, rugby sevens, swimming, tennis and beach volleyball.