School Mini Olympics started

Manama : The Third School Mini Olympics got underway on Thursday with 3,000 students from 24 government and private schools taking part, which is organised by the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

This event features nine sports events in total - football, basketball, volleyball, athletics, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, aquathlon and disability sports and runs until May 5. The opening ceremony staged at Isa Sports City’s Bahrain Volleyball Association gym in Riffa, was patronised by BOC board member and Woman’s Sport Committee chairwoman Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, who lit the Olympic torch.

Early on, a number of music shows and performances were put on by students from the Indian School and Abdulrahman Kanoo International School, then Shaikha Hayat declared the Mini Olympics open.

Commenting on this occasion, Shaikha Hayat expressed her pride for having such an event in Bahrain every year, which is in line with the directive of Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Work and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman, and BOC President.

She added that the Mini Olympics is in compliance with the keenness of the BOC to implement its strategy aimed to spread sports across the nation and prepare all means to promote knowledge and physical education among the younger generation, besides the principles of Olympic values and ideals.