THE Second Bahrain Baby Games got underway on Saturday at Isa Sports City’s Bahrain Volleyball Association Hall in Riffa with a colourful opening ceremony.
Over a thousand kids, aged between three and five, including 563 representing 35 nurseries and 466 from 34 kindergartens, will be taking part in competitions in athletics, basketball, gymnastics and football.
The four-day event is being organised by Bahrain Olympic Committee in cooperation with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour and Social Development.
This year’s edition features competitions for children aged three to five year in four different sport – athletics, basketball, gymnastics and football.
Highlight
The opening ceremony was attended by BOC secretary general Mohammed Al Nusuf. The highlight of the opening ceremony was an acrobatic performance by Layal Jehad of KJ Kids Kindergarten .
It was followed by another show, presented by Wala Al Dossary, and a third demonstration by Fairytopia Kindergarten while KJ Kids Kindergarten presented a special show using the five coloured circles of the Olympic Games.
Other activities on the inaugural day included a below-12-month crawling contest and a below-15-month walking race, both of which ended on a thrilling note with hundreds of parents cheering the babies from the stands.
Later the teams took part in a parade holding their respective identity banners amidst a big round of applause from the audience.
After the parade, a couple of kids entered the hall carrying the Olympic torch to mark the launch of the event before Al Nusuf officially declared the Games open.
“The Baby Games has become one of the leading events on our annual agenda, thanks to the tremendous success of last year’s inaugural edition which was attended by a large number of participants and their families,” said Al Nusuf.
“We are extremely thrilled to host the Baby Games for the second consecutive year here and I am personally confident that this year’s event will be another great success.”