UIPM Sports athletes shine at Virtual Youth Festival

Nine youth athletes from the UIPM Sports movement are celebrating after winning medals in the successful 1st Virtual Youth Festival, which culminated in a gala ceremony broadcast from Bangkok (THA) on December 20.

The VYF was arranged by United Through Sports (UTS) with the patronage of some of the world’s biggest sports organisations, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and Special Olympics.

The Festival brought more than 60 organisations together to promote inclusion, health, equality, non-discrimination and peace.

Three gold medallists came out on top in their Max Fit categories – Guatemala duo Andrea Zetina Custodio (U15) and Ashley Moscoso (U11) and Sharon Tal of Israel (U18). 

Tatiana Thomatos of South Africa won silver in the U11 category, while Farida Kahlil (EGY) took the tally of female medallists to five with her U10 bronze.

Three male athletes also won bronze – Sebastian Morales (GUA; U15), Muslim Izmaylov of Uzbekistan (U12) and Liam Els (RSA; U11).

Two female youth athletes – 11-year-old Kyra Seow of Singapore and 18-year-old Mariam Amer of Egypt - were selected by UIPM to be ambassadors for the Festival, engaging peers around the world.

There were more than 100 Youth Ambassadors in total and Kyra Seow (SGP) was one of four awarded a special medal. A VYF spokesperson said: “Kyra participated in all workshops and educational panels, she has promoted all possible content in social media and on top of that, we love her spirit and her attitude.”

Last but not least, two certified UIPM Judges - Agnese Tomassi of France and Isamu Nogami of Japan - took part in the Finals on November 20-22 as technical officials.

UIPM Executive Board Member for Development, Viacheslav Malishev, said: “After the success of UIPM online competitions #LaserHomeRun and #LaserAllStars earlier in 2020, it was wonderful to see so many of our youth athletes taking part in another successful virtual initiative. 

“The Virtual Youth Festival provided another way for our multi-sports community to come together online and find ways to compete during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. I congratulate all of the athletes, ambassadors and judges who represented UIPM in this unique event and congratulations to UTS on their initiative.”