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The official opening ceremony of the 4th Mini Olympics was held on Monday at Isa Town Sports City’s Bahrain Volleyball Association gym in right royal style.
Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, chairman of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and president of Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC), attended the event adding to the excitement for children in attendance.
The Mini Olympics is organised by the BOC, in association with the Ministry of Education, assisted by individual sporting associations determining the nature of each competition.
The BOC’s aim is not to provide another outlet for existing excellence to shine, rather to encourage the emergence of new talent while facilitating additional participation in sport.
Following an opening address from the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports assistant general secretary and Bahrain Olympic Committee general secretary Abdulrahman Askar, Shaikh Nasser officially declared the event open before meeting youngsters involved in the opening ceremony.
“We are very pleased and proud to bring this event every year, in an attempt to promote the values and principles of the Olympic among government and private schools in the Kingdom, and motivate them to practice sports activities and follow a healthy life style,” explained Askar.
“We look to discover promising sports talent, build a solid foundation and involve them in competitive sporting activities organised by sports clubs and associations.
“We are also keen to establish competitive sports activities organised at schools.”
The entertainment commenced with 12 primary school pupils dancing and twirling hula hoops decorated in Olympic designs, finishing by forming the Olympic rings in an imaginative and well-coordinated display.
This was followed by another group, beautifully dressed in Bahraini attire, demonstrating traditional dancing before other children, representing the various sporting disciplines, stepped into the stadium accompanied by the marching band of the Indian School.
The BOC and individual associations are being particularly challenged this year with the event, which runs until March 30 at a variety of venues across Bahrain, being larger then ever before.
Aimed at individual schools, more than 2,000 local and expatriate students are expected to participate with 42 government and private schools having entered.
The action commenced on Thursday with a 3-on-3 basketball tournament followed by the preliminary group matches from the cricket competition, although many of the games were washed away by the rain!
The first medals were presented to Dar Kulaib who claimed the mini volleyball tournament gold medals, overcoming both teams from Al Nasser in the process.
Bahrain Volleyball Association president Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, joined by his son Shaikh Mohammed bin Ali Al Khalifa, honoured the top three teams at the prize presentation ceremony.
Competitions among the 14 sports on display are divided into different age categories for boys and girls with activities ranging from Jiu Jitsu and Taekwondo to Gymnastics and Taekwondo while there is also space for a Duathlon, perhaps aimed at breeding future triathletes.
New sports present include cricket, hockey and karting with the first two also introducing girls-only events for the first time in Bahrain.
Football will be the most active sport with matches played at junior, intermediate and senior levels across a variety of venues.
The curtain will be drawn on the Mini Olympics by athletics and hockey with medals being presented on March 29, leaving attention to be focused on the closing ceremony the following day.
The activities have been specifically selected to be engaging to the participants while fun for spectators … so climb out of your armchair to go and watch!
