Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president 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 (AYG) and Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

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 imprimatur of nine of the 11 national Olympic committees (NOCs) presidents of the SEA Games in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Timor Leste.

The POC head said that the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has advanced its full support and assistance to the SEA Plus YG in a meeting among the founding members with OCA director general Dr. Husain AHZ Al-Musallam of Kuwait, who said that the countries which don’t want to join is up to them.

“The SEA Plus YG is Southeast Asia’s answer to molding 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 in Manila in 2028 and shall be staged biennially thereafter to align with the AYG — the second largest sporting event on the continent after the Asian Games, drawing 45 nations, which was recently hosted by Manama with 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, who reiterated the immediate establishment of the SEA Plus YG during official meetings and caucuses at the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand last month.

Tolentino, honorary president of the SEA Games Federation Council, said the program shall consist of two mandatory sports, a maximum of 12 Olympic sports, a 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 in other Asian sub-regions for each edition of the Games for the purpose of providing added competition for the region’s grassroots.