KUWAIT CITY - A total of 18 sporting programs will feature in the 3rd Asian Youth Games (AYG) in Shantou, China in November 2021, the Olympic Council of Asia revealed on Thursday.

The 18 sports include Olympic Games staples such as athletics, aquatics, gymnastics and football. New Olympic sports such as surfing and rock climbing, and Asian favorites such as dragon boat racing and wushu will also feature in the tournament.

The 3rd AYG will take place in Shantou, a port city in Guangdong province, from November 20 to 28, 2021.

"The OCA, while maintaining a very strict isolation policy, is still continuing its activity and liaising with the various Asian Games organising committees to ensure that the preparations for the Games are not hindered," wrote OCA Director General Husain Al Musallam in a letter to the OCA's 45 National Olympic Committees.

"In this respect I have the pleasure to inform you that the OCA, in coordination with the organising committee, has decided the dates and sports programme of the 3rd Asian Youth Games."

The tournament will feature athletics, aquatics (swimming, diving and water polo), badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, dragon boat racing, football, gymnastics, golf, handball, hip hop dance, rock climbing, rugby, surfing, table tennis, taekwondo, wind surfing and wushu.

The OCA's inaugural Asian Youth Games took place in Singapore in 2009, with the second edition being held in Nanjing, China in 2013. Both events were test events for the host cities of the Youth Olympic Games in 2010 and 2014.

After the third AYG in Shantou in November 2021, the fourth edition will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2025.

China will also be hosting the OCA's 6th Asian Beach Games in Sanya, Hainan province, from November 28 to December 6, 2020 and the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from September 10 to 25, 2022.