The Philippines will field 141 athletes across 19 sports at the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain, with the first batch flying to Manama on October 17, five days before the October 22 opening ceremony.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said the mission is to match or surpass the country’s last haul at the 2013 Games in Nanjing, where taekwondo’s Pauline Lopez and golfer Mia Legaspi delivered gold medals.

“We have strong chances at the gold medals in the combat sports, but we’re not discounting production in other fronts,” Tolentino said. He added that the AYG remains the second-largest multi-sport competition in Asia after the Asian Games.

Combat sports lead largest delegation

Jiu-jitsu will send the biggest Filipino contingent with 17 athletes, followed by taekwondo with 16 and wrestling with 13. Other sports include volleyball (12), muay (12), athletics (8), badminton (8), boxing (6), cycling (6), golf (6), weightlifting (6), table tennis (6), teqball (6), MMA (5), kurash (4), aquatics (3), beach wrestling (3), pencak silat (2) and triathlon (2).

The hosts have included Bahrain’s domestic sport of camel racing along with beach wrestling on the program. In all, 26 sports are scheduled.

Thousands expected at Bahrain staging

The AYG, first held in Singapore in 2009, returns this year after being shelved in 2017 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Bahrain announced that 4,250 athletes, 900 officials and 700 coaches will take part, supported by a workforce of 1,200 and 300 volunteers.

The second batch of the Philippine delegation, including coaches and team officials, will depart for Bahrain on October 20.

At the 2013 Games, China dominated with 71 of 231 gold medals, while Thailand led Southeast Asia with 17 golds, followed by Singapore with 14 and Vietnam with five.