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Gymnast Xavier Pang on the vault apparatus during the artistic gymnastics men's qualification at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on 7 Nov. Photo: OIS/ Will Palmer
A younger Xavier Pang never believed he would be competing at the Youth Olympic Games, but his experience at the Dakar 2026 artistic gymnastics event has left him wanting more.
“I started gymnastics when I was three; my sister did gymnastics first so I just started after her. If you were to tell me that I would be competing at the Youth Olympic Games, I would have laughed at you. I feel very privileged to be here,” said the 17-year-old.
He scored 63.964 to rank 51st in the men’s qualification round on 7 Nov, outside of the top-18 finish required to progress to the all-around final. Though disappointed by the falls he experienced during his routines at the Dakar Expo Center, he has enjoyed featuring in his biggest competition to date.
For gymnast Xavier Pang, the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games is his biggest competition to date. Photo: OIS/ Will Palmer
“It just makes me want to go to bigger competitions and in order to go to bigger competitions, I’ll have to work harder,” said Pang, Singapore’s second male gymnast at the Youth Olympic Games after Timothy Tay who competed in the 2010 edition.
“The biggest (lesson) I’ve learnt from gymnastics is how to bounce back from falls. Failing is really a part of the sport, because when you’re trying new skills, you’ll fail multiple times before you actually succeed your skill,” added the Ngee Ann Polytechnic student.
“When you put them in the routine, you will fail multiple times before you succeed the routine. That’s something that is a part of me now. In school or in the future when I have a job, if things get hard, I won’t give up just like that; I will still continue to push on.”
Fellow Singaporean Fred Leow and his 3x3 basketball teammates Matthew Cheng, Mason Lim and Jaden Ng will also leave the Games with valuable lessons. In the pool stage, Singapore finished third out of three teams in their group after falling 10-18 to Puerto Rico and 13-21 to Latvia on 7 Nov. The top two teams in each group progress to the quarter-finals.
Singapore 3x3 basketball captain Fred Leow (right) during the pool match against Latvia at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on 7 Nov. Photo: OIS/ Jonathan Nackstrand
Captain Leow felt the Singapore team played below standards in their opener against Puerto Rico, but regrouped well to be better prepared to face third seed Latvia. In the second match at the Complexe Tour de l'Oeuf, sixth seed Singapore did well to press their opponents and keep the score close. With the score at 7-7, Latvia stepped up their attack to take the lead and never looked back.
(from left) Matthew Cheng, Fred Leow, Mason Lim and Jaden Ng at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on 7 Nov. Photo: Singapore National Olympic Council
“They were much more composed the whole game and they were able to adjust to different situations better. We didn’t stay consistent enough … throughout the last three minutes, we didn’t focus on our plays and execute the plays properly,” said Leow, 17.
“We definitely did a lot better compared to our first game. There were a lot of things we could have done better to maintain the score gap and maybe even possibly win the game. There are a lot of things we have to work on in order to match up to these world-class players. Together as a team, we will train harder and not let this loss affect us. We learnt a lot here and we’ll bring this back to Singapore to continue to train hard, and prepare for whatever is ahead of us.”
Earlier in the day, archer Tabitha Yeo progressed to the 1/8 elimination round of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games after defeating New Zealand’s Ella Yang in the 1/16 elimination round.
Tabitha Yeo during the women's 1/16 elimination round at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on 7 Nov. Photo: OIS/ Remi Vallat
The 17-year-old, seeded seventh after the ranking round, was on point with her 6-0 victory at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium. In the elimination round, each match is contested in a best of five format with each set comprising three arrows. An athlete can score a maximum of 30 points in each set, and the archer with the higher score in a set is awarded two points.
Yeo, who will face Maya Casas Lara of Mexico in the 1/8 elimination round on 9 Nov, said: “I’m feeling really good today. 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 every single time. I’m just going to continue doing my best (in the next match).”
The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games takes place from 31 October to 13 November 2026. For the latest Team Singapore coverage and news, follow Team Singapore on their social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) or visit the official Team Singapore website.
