Chinese official says EAG's transformation good for youth

  Liu Aijie, deputy secretary-general of Chinese delegation at the 6th East Asian Games (EAG), hailed EAG's transformation into East Asian Youth Games "beneficial" to the youth as it would attract more attention from the younger generation.

The East Asian Youth Games will debut in 2019, while the host and date of the new sports event are yet to be decided.

"Apart from accumulating experience through this event for young athletes, we have more of an educational purpose. Actually, we have an event among China, Japan and South Korea for many years. It will be a process for resources reallocation," said Liu.

"The world is of the youth. All future sport stars will arise from young athletes," he added.

China fielded 516 athletes, the largest ever in the history of the quadrennial regional event, in all the 24 sports at the 6th EAG and topped the overall medal table with 134 gold, 79 silver, 51 bronze.


With the inaugural edition in 1993, EAG is a multi-sport event organized by the East Asian Games Association and held every four years. The participating delegations are the eight East Asian countries and regions, namely China, Japan, South Korea, DPR Korea, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China and Macao, China, as well as the Pacific island of Guam, which is a member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees.