BUCHAREST - Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) announced Tuesday that the country will send 41 athletes to China to compete in half of the disciplines at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

"I hope you will represent our country at top levels in this Olympic competition," COSR President Alin Petrache told Romania's representatives to the event, at the Olympic Center near Bucharest, hoping that "some of the Romanian athletes going to China will represent our country at the Olympic Games in Rio and Tokyo."

"You are the most precious treasure for us, for the Romanian sports. I think you will return from China with medals," he stressed.

Romanian athletes actually will compete in 14 disciplines at the event: athletics, basketball, boxing, weightlifting, rowing, canoe and kayak, judo, swimming, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, fencing, taekwondo, table tennis, and tennis.