Postponed World School Games now set for Oct. 16, 2021 in Jianjiang, China

The postponed 2020 World School Games will be held from October 16 to 23 next year in Jianjiang, China, the International School Sports Federation (ISF) has confirmed.

An agreement was reached on Thursday after a call between leaders from the ISF, the China School Sports Federation and the 18th Gymnasiade Executive Committee.

The world’s biggest inter-schools championship had been scheduled to run from October 17 to 24  this year, but the 18th edition was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Kenyan schools are bound to participate at the prestigious biennial championship for the first time ever after China, the host, pledged to cater for accommodation charges as well as 80% of all flight costs for the African teams.

“We would like to inform you that the International School Sport Federation, the China School Sports Federation and the 18th Gymnasiade Executive Committee commonly came to the conclusion to reschedule the event that was planned from 17th to 24th October 2020 to the year 2021, due to the pandemic of COVID-19.

“The new dates of 18th ISF Gymnasiade – Jinjiang 2020 are; 16th to 23rd October 2021. The official name of the event is ‘18th ISF Gymnasiade (School Summer Games) – Jinjiang 2020’,” ISF said in a statement to its members.

Despite now being confirmed for 2021, the Games will still be known as Jinjiang 2020 despite the postponement.

Kenya will send only athletics and basketball teams to the championship where 20 other disciplines will be at stake including football.

Kenya has never participated in the event since it started in 1974 in Germany owing to lack of sponsorship.

This year’s event, the 19th edition of the Federation of East Africa Secondary School Sports Association (FEASSSA) games, which form part of the qualification process for the World School Games, were also cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kenya remains host of the regional competition.

Schools in Kenya were closed mid-march days after the first coronavirus case was confirmed and by that time, most of the Term One activities were at the County level.

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china International School Sport Federation (ISF) Jianjiang New Dates World School Games

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