On Thursday 25th November 2021, it was announced that Coventry were to host the International Children’s Games (ICG) for 2022.
For whose of you who are unaware, the International Children’s Games is an international sporting event commissioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which takes place annually and sees athletes from a variety of country compete in a variety of different sporting events. First established in 1968, the International Children’s Games has overall seen 49,000 youths from a total of 114 countries take part. This is actually not the first time that the United Kingdom has hosted the ICG as it was recently hosted in the county of Lanarkshire in 2011 and as well as this, the city of Coventry has previously hosted the International Children’s Games, as the city previously hosted back in 2005 and during that event, 1,250 athletes from a total of 33 countries participated. The previous International Children’s Games was hosted by the city of Ufa in Russia in 2019 due to the fact that the 2020 tournament was sadly cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic but now, it is happy to say that it is safe for the event to take place this year.
Athletes compete in a total of 7 events:
- Athletics
- Basketball 3 on 3
- Climbing
- Football 6 a side
- Swimming
- Table Tennis
- Tennis.
A host of venues around Coventry is set to host the event including the Alan Higgs Centre, the University of Warwick and Broadgate. The main aims of the International Children’s Games are to increase access to arts, sports and cultural opportunities in the city, to inspire and to create a memorable experience for both participants and visitors and finally, it aims to reduce health inequalities locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
For more information, please visit: www.coventryicg2022.org.uk
