The country is hoping to send at least 25 athletes to the first Youth Olympic Games on August 14-26 in Singapore.

Mark Joseph, who was recently named as the RP chief of mission to the Youth Olympiad, on Thursday said they could only send that much because the athletes must hurdle the several tough qualifying tournaments which started last year to earn berths.

“I think it’s because the Youth is new, and the International Olympic Committee is looking if these Olympic sports included appeals to the youth,” Joseph said.

“I also think that the qualifiers are three times harder than the Summer Olympic qualifying tournaments because they only offer limited slots for the youth,” the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) deputy secretary general and swimming chief added.

The Youth Games, confined for athletes 14 to 18 years old, will be participated in by 205 countries which will take part in 26 disciplines.

Joseph said four have already qualified in swimming courtesy of Jasmine Al-Khaldi, Jessie Lacuna, Dorothy Hong and Banjo Borja.

Joseph added top junior netter Francis Casey Alcantara has already secured an outright ticket following his doubles victory with Taiwanese Hsieh Cheng-peng at the Australian Open last year, while FIBA, the world’s governing body in basketball, gave the country a slot on basketball 3-on-3 “probably because of the country’s contribution to the growth of basketball worldwide.”

Athletes who will comprise the RP basketball 3-on-3 squad have yet to be determined.

Qualifying tournaments are still scheduled until May 15. (Tempo Sports)