Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino congratulating Alex Eala for winning her first SEA Games gold in Tennis in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Philippines is positioning itself at the center of Southeast Asia’s next big grassroots sports push, with plans underway to host the inaugural Southeast Asian Plus Youth Games in Manila in 2028—a tournament designed not for spectacle, but for long-term Olympic ambition.
The proposed multi-sport event, championed by Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino, aims to close a long-standing development gap in the region by giving athletes aged 17 and under a high-level competitive platform well before they reach the Asian Youth Games and, eventually, the Youth Olympic Games.
Rather than another standalone meet, the SEA Plus Youth Games is envisioned as a structured pipeline. It will be staged at least a year ahead of the Asian Youth Games, allowing young athletes to gain international exposure, adapt to multi-sport environments, and build the competitive instincts often missing at the early stages of elite sport.
Tolentino, who will serve as the founding president of the new Games, has already secured backing from nine of the 11 Southeast Asian National Olympic Committees, including those from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Timor-Leste.
The broad regional support signals a shared recognition that Southeast Asia must invest earlier—and more deliberately—if it hopes to compete consistently at the continental and global level.
“The idea is simple but strategic,” Tolentino said, describing the Games as Southeast Asia’s answer to systematic youth development. The goal, he explained, is to produce athletes who are not only competitive at the Asian Youth Games but are also capable of contending for medals at the Youth Olympics—and, ultimately, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
Institutional backing has also followed. The Olympic Council of Asia has expressed full support for the initiative, with Tolentino confirming that the regional body will provide technical and organizational assistance after meetings with OCA leadership.
That endorsement positions the SEA Plus Youth Games as a credible addition to Asia’s official sporting calendar rather than a one-off experiment.
Under the proposed framework, the Games will be held every two years to align with the Asian Youth Games cycle, which is currently the second-largest multi-sport event in Asia after the Asian Games.
The competition program will include two mandatory sports, up to 12 Olympic disciplines, as many as five Asian non-Olympic sports, and one traditional sport featuring up to six medal events—an approach designed to balance global relevance with regional identity.
The “Plus” in the event’s name reflects another strategic element: the inclusion of at least one invited National Olympic Committee from outside Southeast Asia in every edition. This, Tolentino said, is meant to raise competitive standards and expose young athletes to varied playing styles early in their development.
Beyond medals and rankings, organizers are framing the SEA Plus Youth Games as a culturally unifying platform—one that blends elite competition with long-term athlete formation. For the Philippines, hosting the inaugural edition would not only place Manila at the heart of a new regional movement but also signal a shift in focus from short-term results to sustainable sporting excellence.
If realized in 2028, the SEA Plus Youth Games could mark a quiet but consequential turning point—one where Southeast Asia begins building Olympic dreams not at the finish line, but at the very start.