Manama, Bahrain, May 14, 2025: Yousef Duaij Mahorfi, Chairman of the Bahrain Asian Youth Games Organising Committee, promised a “world-class games” as the 1st Technical Delegates Meeting got underway on Wednesday, May 14.
Welcoming technical officials from across Asia in 24 sports, Yousef Duaij was upbeat about the progress made for the event, to be held from October 22-31.
“Your presence here today is a significant step forward towards delivering world-class games,” the BAYGOC Chairman told his audience at The Art Hotel.
“The organising committee is proud of the progress we have made and is committed to working closely with all of you to hold a successful event which will be a benchmark for all Asian Youth Games in the future,” Yousef Duaij added.
OCA Deputy Director General Vinod Kumar Tiwari praised the Bahrain Olympic Committee for putting their hand up as hosts to replace Tashkent, Uzbekistan at the 11th hour, and for having made tremendous progress in ensuring that everything will be in place by the time of the opening ceremony on October 22.
“These games were to be held in Tashkent, but that was changed. Bahrain stepped in and made all the arrangements, in less than a year. We are very grateful to Bahrain,” Vinod Tiwari said.
The OCA Deputy Director General pressed all technical delegates to make the fullest use of the two-day visit to iron out any issues for their individual sports with the organising committee.
“You will be visiting the competition and training venues and I urge you to talk to the competition managers and sort out any issues which might crop up. I don’t want to hear at a later stage that there are problems. This is the chance to make sure everything runs smoothly,” Vinod Tiwari added.
The delegates were taken through a presentation of all facets of the games by officials of BAYGOC. This included competition and training venues, the game schedule, accommodation, accreditation, transport, medical services, doping control, and broadcasting and media.
Among the details revealed by BAYGOC were:
· There will be 24 sports, 31 disciplines and 253 events
· Two main competition zones: Isa Sports City and Exhibition World Bahrain
· Eight competition sub-zones
· While the Opening Ceremony is on October 22, competition in four sports – futsal, handball, kabaddi and indoor volleyball – will commence on October 19
Technical delegates were also informed of age restrictions. The OCA will restrict the age limit to 14 to 17 years for the sports that are included in the competition programme for the Dakar Youth Olympic Games in 2026, so that athletes can compete in this event. For those sports not in the Youth Olympic Games, the age limit will be increased to 18.
