Youth Olympic Games: How Singapore has fared so far and what’s ahead in coming days

SINGAPORE: Archer Tabitha Yeo advanced in the women’s individual elimination round at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, after defeating New Zealand’s Ella Yang 6-0 on Saturday (Nov 7). 

The 17-year-old SEA Games gold medalist will next face Mexico’s Maya Casas Lara on Monday.

Her advancement comes as Team Singapore has secured one gold and one silver medal at the Games, with five days of competition remaining. 

In a post-match interview, Yeo said that she will continue doing her best for the upcoming matches. 

“You can never expect eliminations to be easy. So I just went in and did my best. I don’t really care what my opponent’s rank is, I just go in and know that I have to do my best,” she said. 

More than 2,600 athletes aged 14 to 17 are competing in 25 sports at the Youth Olympic Games, which run from Oct 31 to Nov 13. Dakar 2026 marks the first Olympic sporting event held in Africa.

Singapore is represented by 14 athletes across nine sports: archery, athletics, badminton, 3x3 basketball, fencing, artistic gymnastics, sailing, table tennis and wushu. 

PODIUM FINISHERS 

Last Tuesday, wushu exponent Ng Zhe Nin claimed Singapore's first gold medal of this Games, with a combined score of 18.713 points. 

The 16-year-old placed first in the taijishan routine with a score of 9.353 points before topping the taijiquan segment with 9.360 points. 

Her victory marked Singapore's first gold medal at the Summer Youth Olympics since 2014. This is the first time wushu has been included in an Olympic programme as a medal sport.

Before her Youth Olympic gold, Ng, who took up wushu at 10, had already won multiple medals on the international stage. 

In 2024, she won a gold and a silver at her first World Junior Wushu Championships. She also earned two golds and a silver at this year's edition in Tianjin, China.

Last Thursday, 16-year-old table tennis player Loy Ming Ying added a silver to Singapore's medal tally. 

She defeated Hong Kong's Su Tsz Tung 4-2 in the women's singles semi-finals, before settling for silver after falling 2-4 to Chinese Taipei's Chen Min-hsin in the final. 

Her silver was Singapore's second Youth Olympic Games medal in table tennis, 16 years after Isabelle Li clinched silver at the inaugural Games in Singapore in 2010. 

“Ming Ying’s remarkable achievement is a testament to her hard work, resilience and fighting spirit,” the Singapore Table Tennis Association said in a press release.

“Her performance has given Singapore plenty to cheer about and made the nation proud.”

Meanwhile, Singapore’s men’s 3x3 basketball team bowed out of the competition after losing both their Pool C matches. The team fell 10-18 to Puerto Rico and 13-21 to Latvia, missing out on a place in the quarter-finals.

Last Monday, 17-year-old Zack Ng defeated Venezuela’s Fabricio Rodriguez Tovar 2-0 in the men’s singles badminton group stage, before falling 0-2 to Thailand’s Punnatat Prempunpong the following day. 

WHAT’S TO COME?

Singapore’s gymnasts and windsurfers will be in action later on Sunday. 

Fourteen-year-old Emmanuelle Tan, one of Singapore’s leading junior artistic gymnasts, will compete in the women's artistic gymnastics qualification round. 

She was crowned national junior champion at the Singapore Gymnastics National Championships in March, finishing the championships with four gold medals.

Rising young windsurfers Trevor Ng, 16, and Kate Teo, 15, will take to the water for the men's and women's windsurfing events respectively.

On Monday, Singapore's athletes will be in action in archery, athletics, gymnastics and windsurfing.

Daryen Ko, 17, will feature in the men’s 400m hurdles event on Monday. 

Fencer Ashton Auw, 17, is scheduled to compete in the men's sabre event on Friday, the final day of the Games. 

He clinched a silver medal at the 2025 FIE Cadet World Cup in Hammamet, Tunisia, and an individual bronze and team silver at the 2025 Asian Cadet Cup in Kuala Lumpur.