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| The proposed "SEA Games Plus" will be known as the SEA Plus Youth Games and will feature young athletes 17 and below. |
MANILA—The Philippine Olympic Committee confirmed on Thursday that a "Southeast Asian Games Plus" is indeed in the works for 2028, with the inaugural edition happening in the Philippines.
However, unlike how Indonesian Olympic Committee president Raja Oktohari told the media last week about the standalone event's structure, POC president Bambol Tolentino clarified that the proposed SEA Games Plus will be only for youth athletes aged 17 and below.
The new biennial meet will be formally named Southeast Asian Plus Youth Games, and the first edition will happen the year before the next Asian Youth Games in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
“The SEA Plus YG is Southeast Asia’s answer to molding athletes at the grassroots level, making them competitive at the AYG level and able and capable of winning medals at the YOG,” said Tolentino, who was named the founding president of the new sports meet.
The national Olympic committee presidents of Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Timor Leste joined Tolentino and Oktohari in expressing their full support for the SEA Plus Youth Games.
According to the said officials, the SEA Plus YG is actually a brainchild of Tolentino.
“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.
Further clarifying Oktohari's claims, Tolentino stated that at least one Asian NOC outside of Southeast Asia will be invited per edition, aiming to provide additional competition for the region's grassroots sports development.
However, this effectively rules out Oceanian teams, such as Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, from joining the first SEA Plus YG in 2028.
Bhutan is one of the Asian countries being eyed to be invited to the new sports meet, as Oktohari was quoted in reports.
The POC head also said that the Olympic Council of Asia 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 that don’t want to join are up to them.
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 SEA Plus YG is an elite-level, developmental, and culturally unifying multi-sport event as we have stated in the games’ charter,” said Tolentino.
