Manila, Philippines, January 1, 2026: The President of the Philippines Olympic Committee Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino has spearheaded the creation in Southeast Asia of a youth-based multi-sport competition that will help guarantee the preparedness of the region’s athletes for the Asian Youth Games and Youth Olympic Games.
To be called the Southeast Asian Plus Youth Games or SEA Plus YG, the competitions are designed to be held at least a year before the AYG for athletes aged 17 and under.
Tolentino is the founding president of the games that has already secured the blessings of nine of the 11 National Olympic Committee presidents of the SEA Games – Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Timor Leste.
The POC head has said that the Olympic Council of Asia and its Director General Husain Al Musallam has advanced full support and assistance to the SEA Plus YG in a meeting among the founding members.
“The SEA Plus YG is Southeast 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,” Tolentino said.
The inaugural edition is intended to be held in Manila in 2028 and shall be staged biennially thereafter to align with the AYG – the second largest sporting event in the continent after the Asian Games drawing 45 nations – which was hosted in 2025 by Manama, and Tashkent as the next host in 2029.
“Ultimately the end goal is for these young athletes to have those strong foundations to contend at the Summer and Winter Olympics,” added Tolentino.
The POC President said the SEA Plus YG programme will consist of two mandatory sports, a maximum of 12 Olympic sports, maximum of five Asian non-Olympic sports and one traditional sport with up to six medal events.
The ‘Plus’, Tolentino explained, refers to at least one invited Asian NOC from another zone for each edition of the Games for the purpose of providing added competition for the region’s grassroots.