The youth brigade won’t be left behind and will have their share of the spotlight in the Feb. 16 San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association 2025 Awards Night at the Diamond Hotel Manila.
A total of 16 youngsters are going to be recognized with the Tony Siddayao Awards, given by the country’s oldest media organization to young athletes 17 years old and below, who excelled in their respective fields in the year just passed.
Named in honor of the late Manila Standard sports editor Tony Siddayao, acknowledged as the Dean of Philippine sports writing, the award has been a staple part of the annual gala night co-presented by the Philippine Sports Commission and ArenaPlus.
The 2025 Siddayao awardees are composed of weightlifters Jay-R Colonia and Jhodie Peralta, swimmers Behrouz Mojdeh, Sophia Garra, Titus Sia, and Patricia Mae Santor, golfers Zach Guico and Nicole Gan, chessers Jemaicah Mendoza and Christian Gian Karlo Arca, squash’s Aerra JC Mae Relano, bowler Royce Wayne Padua, boxer Leo Mhar Lobrido, jiu-jitsu’s Bailey Heinsohn, netter Tenny Madis, and gymnast Karl Eldrew Yulo.
Together, they share center stage with Male and Female Athletes of the Year Carlos Yulo and Alex Eala during the award proceedings supported by major backers Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, Cignal, Premier Volleyball League, Philippine Basketball Association, Akari, Rain or Shine, Capital1 Solar Energy, and Acrocity.
Eala herself was a former Siddayao awardee along with the likes of Kiefer Ravena, Dottie Ardina, Wesley So, Jacob Ang, among others.
Colonia and Peralta accounted for half of the 10 gold medals the Philippines won in the IWF Youth and Junior World Championships in Lima Peru, Mojdeh made waves with rich medal hauls on top of record feats in the Asian Open School Invitational in Thailand and the Buccaneer Invitational in Japan, Garra and Sia emerged as the most outstanding performers in the 2025 Palarong Pambansa, while Santor did the same in the 2025 PSC-Batang Pinoy meet.
Guico swung his way to glory in the 2025 US Kids Golf World Championships by ruling the boys’ seven-year-old division, Gan flew the Philippine flag high and proud with a top-podium finish in the 31st Singapore Island Country Club Championships, Arca won top honors in the Eastern Asia Youth Championships and Asean Age-Group Championships, while Mendoza bagged a bronze in the World Youth Chess Championships, brought home three golds in the Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championships, and had six golds in the PSC-Batang Pinoy tournament.
Relano captured double golds in the 9th SEA Cup Squash Championships in Bangkok and 12th SICC International Jumbo Doubles Tournament in Singapore, Padua burned the lanes in the 49th Thailand International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships, and Lobrido punched his way to the gold and bronze in the 4th Greater Bay Area Youth Boxing Championships in Shenzhen, China and Asian Boxing U17 Championships in Amman, Jordan.
Heinsohn reigned supreme by winning golds in the women’s U14 -32kg GI in the Asian Jiu-jitsu Youth Championships in Thailand and the JJIF Junior Jiu-Jitsu World Championships, Madis smashed her way to the championship of the junior women’s doubles in the J100 ITF World Tennis Tour in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, and Yulo for his bronze-medal feats in floor exercise and horizontal bar at the 2025 Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
