By PETER NJENGA

Sixteen Kenyan juniors join the 1,330 confirmed athletes from 165 different countries - 752 boys and 578 girls - for the IAAF/Westel World Youth Championships which opens tomorrow in Debrecen, Hungary.

The biggest athletics meeting ever staged in Hungary puts Kenya in the international spotlight as defending champions following their success in the inaugural meeting in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 1999 which attracted 1103 young athletes from 137 countries.

According the IAAF, the popularity of the Youth Championships is amply confirmed by the latest available figures for this second edition, which will take place between tomorrow and Sunday.

"The first edition amply demonstrated the value of this particular innovation, with a number of the participants going on to join the elites led by Kenyan Nicholas Wachira, Jamaica's Veronica Campbell and Great Britain's Mark Lewis Francis in the short sprints," the IAAF says.

Others were Georgie Clarke (Australia) in the middle distances, Ladji Doucoure of France over the high hurdles, Jana Pittman of Australia in the 400 metres hurdles.

South African high jumper Jacques Freitag and his female counterpart Ren?ta Medgyesov? of Slovakia were also are just some of the Bydgoszcz lot who have made an impression in the world of senior competition.

Many potential stars will be discovered in Debrecen.