The competition is being organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We have more than 700 participants from 62 countries at the maiden edition of this competition, and we are hopeful that next year’s edition will be more glorious and better than this.
“But, with this, we can see a mini-Olympic Games happening in Nigeria annually, and it will boost the commercial activities of this city,’’ Essien said.
He said the vision of the competition is to foster integration and promote world peace through sports diplomacy.
“Our theme is `Integration for World Peace’, which is one of the media to build a cordial relationship among nationals through sports diplomacy.
“Also, one of the objectives is to afford resident diplomats the opportunity to unwind while engaging in recreational activities.
“We also aim at giving members of the Diplomatic Corps the opportunity to activate, sharpen and keep their skills alive through sporting activities,’’ the LOC Chairman said.
A total number of 23 sports are featuring in the competition, including football, golf, table tennis, tennis, badminton, squash, cricket, hockey, basketball, volleyball and handball.
The rest sports are baseball, boxing, karate, judo, taekwondo, swimming, cycling, billiards and snooker, chess, monopoly, draughts and scrabble.
NAN reports that the event which started on May 11 is expected to end on May16.(NAN)
