The much awaited 12th Special Olympics World Summer Games will be held in Shanghai between today and 11 October.

Special Olympics Malta, supported by Vodafone Malta Foundation, consists of a delegation of 19 athletes, accompanied by six coaches, two heads of delegation with Anna Calleja as Director of Special Olympics Malta, one assistance staff, and a group of 24 parents, family and friends.

The official number of athletes participating in the games is 4,550 men and 632 women, while there are 2,303 coaches. The age of the participants varies between eight and 69 years. There iss a total of 164 countries participating with 20,000 family members, including Maltese, 40,000 volunteers and many others.

Football has the largest number of participants with 1,263 athletes whilst athletics follows with 1,160. There will be four demonstration sport competitions being cricket, dragon dance, Dragon Boat Race and wheelchair races. Physicians are visiting the athletes to make sure all are in perfect health to participate.

The group Yo-Yo Ma and Silk Road Ensemble will perform the song Kuai Le (Joy) written specifically for the opening ceremony, performed by Chinese star Wu Tong and wriiten by the Argentinian Osvalso Golijov. It is expected to have other famous artists participating in this ceremony, including Elton John and other sport personalities.

In the past few days, the Maltese contingent was hosted to several activities. They were also invited for visits to several special schools.

Vodafone Malta Foundation is the official partner of Special Olympics Malta and has made it possible for this team to fly to Shanghai.