Singapore wrapped up its 2026 Youth Olympic Games campaign in Dakar with three medals: a historic wushu gold, a table tennis silver, and on the final day of competition, the country's first-ever Youth Olympic fencing medal.
The 14-strong contingent competed from Oct 31 to Nov 13 across nine sports, and the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) framed the results as evidence that the republic's talent pipeline is holding its own against far larger systems. According to CNA's report on the campaign, the medals came in wushu, table tennis and sabre fencing, with several near-misses in archery and athletics.
Wushu gold: Ng Zhe Nin makes Olympic history
The standout result came on Nov 3, when 16-year-old Ng Zhe Nin won the women's taijiquan combined event with a score of 18.713 points. It was Singapore's first gold at the Summer Youth Olympics since 2014, and the first time wushu featured as a medal sport in any Olympic programme, a milestone for a discipline with deep roots across Southeast Asia and China.
Ng, who began wushu at age 10, is a proven competitor. She took a gold and a silver at the 2024 World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, then added two golds and a silver at this year's edition in Tianjin, China.
Competing at the Youth Olympic Games has given me a lot of confidence in myself, said Ng. It is a huge milestone and an important stepping stone for me as I work towards bigger competitions in the future.
For a sporting ecosystem that measures return on investment as carefully as any fund manager, a first Olympic-medal-sport gold in wushu is a strong signal that targeted funding in non-traditional disciplines can pay off.
Ashton Auw delivers Singapore's first Youth Olympic fencing medal
Sabre fencer Ashton Auw, 17, sealed the bronze in the men's individual event on Nov 13, beating Georgia's Giorgi Urushadze 15-10 in the third-place play-off. Head Topics reported that the fifth seed topped his pool before advancing through the elimination rounds.
I went in with the mentality of going one point at a time, one bout at a time, Auw said. I just kept telling myself that I want this so bad, and I just got to focus, not on the opponent, but on myself.
Auw's podium finish builds on a solid 2025 season: silver at the FIE Cadet World Cup in Hammamet, Tunisia, plus individual bronze and team silver at the Asian Cadet Cup in Kuala Lumpur. The Straits Times highlighted the result as Singapore's first fencing medal at the Youth Olympics, a discipline where European programmes have historically dominated the medal table.
Table tennis silver extends a 16-year tradition
Two days after Ng's gold, 16-year-old Loy Ming Ying took silver in the women's singles. She beat Hong Kong's Su Tsz Tung 4-2 in the semi-finals before falling 2-4 to Chinese Taipei's Chen Min-hsin in the final. It was Singapore's second Youth Olympic table tennis medal, 16 years after Isabelle Li's silver at the inaugural 2010 Games held in Singapore.
The result is a reminder that even against Chinese Taipei, a system with an industrial-scale talent conveyor belt, Singapore's smaller pipeline can still produce finalists.
Who else impressed for Team Singapore?
Archer Tabitha Yeo, 17, finished fourth in the women's individual event, losing the bronze match 4-6 to Spain's Sandra Perez Cumbreras on Nov 9 after entering the elimination rounds ranked seventh.
I've learnt that I'm a lot stronger than I actually think I am, and I'm going to carry that with me into every competition from now till forever, Yeo said.
On the track, Daryen Ko, 17, set a national under-18 record of 52.16s in the men's 400m hurdles final on Nov 10, finishing sixth and bettering his own mark of 52.75s from September's Singapore Athletics Age Group Championships.
We're all still young, and we remind one another to take things slowly, Ko said. At the end of the day, we're still students, and we have to remember that development takes time. These Games are just stepping stones.
Elsewhere, badminton player Zack Ng won one group-stage match before exiting, the men's 3x3 basketball team lost both Pool C games to Puerto Rico and Latvia, and gymnasts Emmanuelle Tan and Xavier Pang finished outside the top 30 in qualification. Windsurfers Kate Teo and Trevor Ng placed 11th and 12th respectively.
Why the SNOC sees more than medals in Dakar
SNOC secretary-general Mark Chay, a former national swimmer himself, said the council was proud of how the team competed against higher-ranked opponents.
We are very proud of how our Team Singapore athletes rose to the challenge, showing their determination and hunger to compete against some of the world's best young athletes, while embracing the spirit of the Games, Chay said.
The Dakar Games also marked the first time an Olympic sporting event was held on African soil, a geographic first that SNOC said broadened the horizons of the young contingent. UA.NEWS noted the three-medal haul spanned three different sports, a breadth that suggests the republic's high-performance strategy is not overly concentrated in one discipline.
For Singapore, the next checkpoints are the senior international circuit and, ultimately, Los Angeles 2028. If Ng, Auw and Loy continue on their current trajectories, Dakar may be remembered less as a youth tournament and more as an early due-diligence report on a generation of medal contenders.
FAQ
How many medals did Singapore win at the 2026 Youth Olympics?
Singapore won three medals in Dakar: one gold, one silver and one bronze.
Who won Singapore's gold medal at the Dakar Youth Olympics?
Wushu exponent Ng Zhe Nin won gold in the women's taijiquan combined event on Nov 3, Singapore's first Youth Olympic gold since 2014.
Was the fencing medal Singapore's first at the Youth Olympics?
Yes. Ashton Auw's sabre bronze on Nov 13 was Singapore's first-ever fencing medal at the Youth Olympic Games.