ICG opens today in Coventry

The 39th International Children's Games will kick off late this afternoon at the Butts Arena in Coventry, England with a total of 55 cities coming from 33 countries joining.

The lean Cebuano team will also be parading in the competition dubbed as the Olympics Games for young athletes.

The Cebu team will be joining in swimming with two bets and lawn tennis and table tennis with one each.

The 39th edition will be handled by the Belgrade Theater Special Projects and Events Team, a group that has a long track record of producing large-scale outdoor events in the said country.

Today, participants are expected to be entertained by 1100 performers including drummers, singers, dancers, cheer leaders, actors, musicians, pyrotechnicians, gymnasts and aerialists.

There will also be a total of 10 floats and fireworks display by Spitfire Pyrotechnics during the opening ceremonies.

Prior to the opening ceremonies there are also other activities lined up including the head coaches meeting, technical meeting for the different sporting events and training of athletes in the different venues.

Two of the four Cebuano athletes will start competing tomorrow while the rest will start its bid for gold on Saturday.

Tennis player Julius Lagman will try to improve his luck at the Beechwood Tennis Club while Sherry Lynn Gantuangco will be compete at the Games Village where table tennis will be held.

The Solon siblings, John Sebastian and Patricia, for their part, will showcase their wares at the Coventry swimming pool.

Cebu City delegation head, Buddy Solon is also set to join the ICG symposium, which carries the topic "Children's Rights in Sport".

Solon earlier told The Freeman that he will share during the symposium their experiences with the Cebu City Sports Commission here who tried to "block" their participation in the ICG.

Solon said he will let the international sporting body decide who is at fault in the incident.