Nine Filipino athletes compete in Dakar Youth Olympic Games

MANILA, Philippines — It’s on to the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Dakar for nine young athletes aged no older than 17 seeing action in the games’ fourth edition set Oct. 31 to Nov. 13.

“They are the future Olympians, future world champions and the Dakar YOG will provide them the platform to follow the footsteps of the Diazes and Yulos,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, referring to the country’s Olympic gold medalists Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo and Carlos Yulo.

Carrying the country’s colors in Dakar are Pi Durden Wangkay (men’s 200m) and Naomi Marjorie Caesar (women’s 800m) in athletics, Jamesray Mishael Ajido (men’s 100m butterfly) and Riannah Chantelle Coleman (women’s 100m breaststroke) in aquatics, Maritanya Krog (women’s road and individual time trial) in cycling, Tchelzy Maayo and Hillarion Palles III in artistic gymnastics, Angel Polo (women’s Taijiquan combined) in wushu and Jade Justiniane in windsurfing of sailing.

Philippine Taekwondo Association secretary-general Rocky Samson is the chef de mission to the YOG that is also staged every four years (Singapore 2010, Nanjing 2014 and Buenos Aires 2018) like the Summer Olympics. The Dakar edition is the first time that an Olympic event is being held on African soil.

The YOG comes off the heels of the Aichi-Nagoya 20th Asian Games where the country posted an improved performance with four gold, nine silver and 16 bronze medals, and before the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Riyadh from Dec. 13 to 21.