Team SA at World Games 2005
15 July 2005
A team of athletes from across the country left for Germany this week to take part in the 2005 World Games, a unique international event that features non-Olympic sports.
The 2005 World Games, the seventh since the inception of the Games in 1981, is being held in the German cities of Duisburg, Bottrop, Oberhausen and Mülheim from 14 to 24 July.
The World Games are staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee.
The 2005 Games will see 3 500 athletes from 100 countries competing in 34 official and six invitational sports. Athletes will contest medals in 177 events in front of more than 500 000 spectators at 27 venues.
The South African team will be competing in sevens
rugby, billiards, casting, dance sport, lifesaving, karate, power lifting, squash, karate, tug-of-war and water-skiing.
The team will be the first to fall under the banner of the new South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
"The World Games plays a crucial role in the development of sport around the globe, and we are proud to be competing in this arena," said Sascoc president Moss Mashishi.
"The sports that are represented at the World Games are often not given the recognition they deserve, in spite of the fact that they include some excellent athletes that are doing South Africa proud on the international stage."
At the 2001 Games in Akita, Japan, South Africa won a total of 14 medals - 3 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze - and was ranked 10th on the overall medals table.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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