More than 1,200 young competitors have been participating in the 44th International Children's Games in Manama, the capital of the Arabian country of Bahrain, that gave a great and excellent performance. 71 towns were present from all the five continents of the world to compete for the first time ever in ICG's history in an arabic country. New to the International Children's Games were the cities of Bagdad (Iraq), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Sialkot and Karachi (Pakistan), and Bangelore (India). Also for the very first time ever Sailing was part of the programme offered. The high level of competitions in Track and Field, Swimming, Table-Tennis, Taekwondo, Soccer, Volleyball and Handball were only moderately influenced by the high temperatures during the games.