18 sporting programs to feature in 3rd Asian Youth Games

 The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has announced the sports program for the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Shantou, China in November 2021.

The 18 sports include Olympic Games staples such as athletics, aquatics, gymnastics and football, new Olympic sports surfing and rock climbing and Asian favourites dragon boat racing and wushu.

The 3rd AYG will take place in Shantou, a port city in Guangdong province, from November 20-28, 2021.

The tournament will feature athletics, aquatics (swimming, diving and water polo), badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, dragon boat racing, football, gymnastics, golf, handball, hip hop dance, rock climbing, rugby, surfing, table tennis, taekwondo, wind surfing and wushu.

In a circular to the President and Secretary General of the OCA's 45 National Olympic Committees dated April 1, OCA Director General Husain Al Musallam expresses his hope that everyone is "safe and healthy" and his confidence that all necessary precautions are being taken to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The OCA, while maintaining a very strict isolation policy, is still continuing its activity and liaising with the various Asian Games Organising Committees to ensure that the preparations for the Games are not hindered," said Al Musallam.

"In this respect I have the pleasure to inform you that the OCA, in coordination with the Shantou 3rd Asian Youth Games Organising Committee (SAYGOC), has decided the dates and sports programme of the 3rd Asian Youth Games."

The inaugural Asian Youth Games took place in Singapore in 2009 and the second in Nanjing, China in 2013. Both events were test events for the host cities of the International Olympic Committee's Youth Olympic Games in 2010 and 2014.

After the third AYG in Shantou in November 2021, the fourth edition will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2025.

China will also be hosting the OCA's 6th Asian Beach Games in Sanya, Hainan province, from November 28 to December 6, 2020 and the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from September 10-25, 2022. IANS