136 athletes to represent PH in Bahrain Asian Youth Games

MANILA, September 17 ------ The Philippines will send 136 athletes to the 3rd Asian Youth Games, set for October 22 to 31 in Manama, Bahrain. The Filipino athletes will compete in 16 of the 23 sports in the program.

Promising boxer Leo Mhar Lobrido and young volleyball star Harlyn Serneche will be the team's flag bearers in the parade of countries during the opening ceremony at the Exhibition World Bahrain, according to Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino. "We'll field a compact team of promising athletes who are all potentially our future Olympic, world and regional champions," said Tolentino, adding that the target is to match or surpass the two gold medals won by taekwondo's Pauline Lopez and golfer Mia Legaspi and three silver medals the country clinched in the Nanjing 2013 Youth Games. "We believe somebody from our 136 athletes will rise to the occasion to make a name for himself or herself," Tolentino said. "Opportunities are always there for us, and we believe our athletes will do whatever it takes to win."

The Asian Youth Games are for athletes aged 14 to 17 years old. Lobrido, who will turn 16 on October 10, won gold in the boys' 46-48 kgs division of the fourth Greater Bay Area Youth Boxing Challenge last December in Shenzhen City in China, while Serneche plays for Nazareth High School of National University.

The Filipino athletes will see action in volleyball, teqball, golf, triathlon, mixed martial arts, taekwondo, Muay Thai, athletics, boxing, cycling, weightlifting, table tennis, badminton, wrestling, aquatics, and jiu-jitsu. Ramon "Tats" Suzara, president of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation and Asian Volleyball Confederation, is the chef de mission to the Bahrain games.

A total of 4,000 athletes from 45 Asian nations are expected to participate in 223 events.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com