MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is set to host the first edition of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Plus Youth Games (YG) next year from December 2 to 14, featuring 23 nations, and a tentative count of 18 sports disciplines.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and the founding president of the SEA Plus YG shared that this is set to prepare athletes in line with the biennial Asian Youth Games cycle.
“This is my gift to the Philippine sport, the SEA Plus Youth Games,” Tolentino told the media during the first meeting of the SEA YG on Monday, at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) conference room.
The SEA Plus YG is a multi-sport event for athletes 16 years old and below.
The tournament will also have the inclusion of Central and East Asian Countries: Bahrain, Bhutan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Turkmenistan.
SEA nations Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Timor-Leste and Vietnam will be on the same bracket.
The POC president also announced that PSC chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio will serve as the Head of the Committee for the SEA Games Plus YG.
“This is what we’re talking about—sports tourism. People visiting and seeing our country all because of sports,” he said.
The proposed sports for the said games are mandatory sports: aquatics and athletics; Olympic sports triathlon, judo, boxing, golf, taekwondo, skateboard, wrestling, fencing, basketball, tennis, and gymnastics; non-Olympic sports jiu-jitsu, billiards, dance sports, and mixed martial arts; and traditional sport arnis.
Tolentino further shared that the innovation behind the SEA Plus YG is due to the idea of not stalling athletes after the Asian Youth Games.
“So what’s next after that?” This is the reason why we pushed for this event.”
