A youth SEA Games? Multi-sport meet for athletes aged 17 and below proposed by Philippines

SINGAPORE – Plans are under way for the introduction of a multi-sport meet for the region’s youth athletes, aimed at helping them prepare for the Asian Youth Games (AYG) and Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

To be called the South-east Asian Plus Youth Games (SEA Plus YG), the inaugural edition could be staged in Manila in 2028, reported several Philippine media outlets.

The reports said that Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino led the creation of SEA Plus YG, which will be held at least a year before the AYG for athletes aged 17 and under.

The last AYG was held in Bahrain in 2025. After the next edition in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2029, it will be held every two years, with Cambodia hosting in 2031.

According to the Inquirer.net, Tolentino will be the Games’ founding president, with eight other national Olympic committee presidents of the region – Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Timor-Leste – expressing support.

Tolentino said: “The SEA Plus YG is South-east Asia’s answer to moulding athletes at the grassroots level, make them competitive at the AYG level and able and capable of winning medals at the YOG.”

“Ultimately, the end goal is for these young athletes to have those strong foundations to contend at the Summer and Winter Olympics,” he added.

He explained that the “Plus” in the meet’s name refers to at least one invited Asian country to provide added competition.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, a Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) spokesperson said: “We will await further formal discussions with our colleagues at the SEA Games Federation and national Olympic committees across South-east Asia.

“We welcome ideas to further develop youth sport in the region and look forward to more fruitful discussions ahead.”

While those in the sports fraternity whom ST spoke to generally expressed a positive view of the proposal, they raised issues such as avoiding clashes with other meets and deciding which Asian countries to invite.

Singapore Squash Rackets Association general manager Alex Wan said: “Having more youth events of this level, particularly when the event is supported by SNOC, brings a lot of positivity to our sport.”

He pointed to how Singapore has juniors ranked within the top 20 in Asia. The Republic currently has three players in the top 15 of the boys’ Under-17 Asian rankings, with Ethan Kuan ranked third, while there are two girls in the top 20 for the same age group.

Wrestling Federation of Singapore (WFS) high performance director Gerard Lim also said this was a great idea, but he underlined the need to work through logistical considerations.

While events like the annual Asean Schools Games exist, he noted that the programme is limited. The 2025 edition featured eight sports – silat, sepak takraw, badminton, basketball, netball, athletics, swimming and wushu.

There are also regular regional sport-specific age-group meets like the SEA Youth Athletics Championships and South-east Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships, but there are no other multi-sport meets for youth.

Lim added: “Multi-sport events do bring in another element, it does make a difference when you feel like you’re representing your country as a bigger group.”

Lim, who noted that WFS has invested more in youth over the last two years, with an eye on the 2029 SEA Games in Singapore, added that the inclusion of Asian countries in the SEA Plus YG could help bridge the gap with the rest of the continent, especially in martial arts.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Japan topped the wrestling medal table with eight golds, one silver and two bronzes, while Iran (2-4-2) were second, followed by the United States (2-2-3) in third.

But he also stressed the need for consistency in the Asian countries’ participation, so that there is a yardstick to measure performances across editions.

He said: “It doesn’t make sense if this edition we have these three countries and the next edition we have three different countries.”

“The good thing about having a youth event is that 80 per cent are almost certainly going to be the same people for the next two to three cycles and that’s how we benchmark our progress,” he added.

Wan also pointed to the need to avoid clashes with the Asean Schools Games, which involve athletes of a similar age group.

On the inclusion of Asian countries, he noted there may be complications as each country’s strengths may vary across sports.

While Singapore Ju-Jitsu Association president Henry Kothagoda said that a multi-sport meet would help their sport’s youth to prepare for major Games, he added: “My only reservation would be that the calendar would be crowded.”

Thrower Anson Loh, 17, welcomed the idea of such an event, saying that it gives opportunities for youth athletes to develop their athletic careers and build their confidence.

The Raffles Institution student, who retained his boys’ shot put title at the Asean Schools Games in Brunei in November, also feels that the region’s athletes will benefit from competing against other Asian countries.

He said: “Our Asian counterparts are usually more developed in their systems and knowledge compared to in South-east Asia.

“Having sporting events like these can allow for a platform for us, coaches and athletes, to interact and exchange knowledge and improve our training methods together.”