Singaporean athletes will compete in seven sports at the Asian Youth Games to be held in Nanjing , China , from August 16-24, the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) has announced.

They include swimming, shooting, table tennis, athletics, badminton, fencing and judo.

A total of 70 athletes, including 37 boys and 33 girls aged 14 to 17, have made it to the preliminary shortlist to represent Singapore at the Games. The contingent will be whittled down to 61 athletes by the final deadline on June 25.

While the SNOC did not want to commit to medal predictions this time around, Secretary-General Chris Chan is confident the teenagers in shooting and swimming will deliver at the Games.

Coaches believed that fencing could pull off a surprise, since Singapore 's young fencers did well at the Asian Cadet Championships recently.

The most promising swimmers include Quah Zheng Wen who had competed at last year’s London Olympics and currently owns five national records in the men’s 400m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 100m and 200m backstroke, and 400m individual medley; and Samantha Yeo who won a bronze in the women’s 50m breaststroke at the Asian Swimming Championships last year.

Shooter Martina Lindsay Veloso, who rewrote national shooter Jasmine Ser’s national record with a perfect 400 in the women’s 10m air rifle at the HomeTeamNS Invitation Shoot in February, may bring medals to Singapore .

At the first Asian Youth Games held in Singapore in 2009, the host with a 90-strong local contingent reaped a total of nine gold, six silver and 15 bronze medals, to which swimmers contributing most with five golds, two silvers and five bronzes.-VNA