Bloemfontein - The Free State province will for the first time host the Annual National Golden Games (NGG) this week.

Free State spokesman for the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation Tankiso Zola said the third annual event will take place on Thursday and Friday.

He said the NGG involves teams from all nine provinces who participate and compete in different sporting codes.

Zola said it is an event for elderly people over the age of 60, with many participants older than 70 to 90. He said participants come from rural areas, informal settlements, urban centers and so forth.

He said the various provinces have held their respective Provincial Golden Games over the last two months to identify athletes for teams to represent them at the national event. Competitors take part in athletics, soccer, ring and stick, duck walking, and bowling.

Zola said the Department adopted the Golden Games as a vehicle to promote active ageing, which is a declaration of the Madrid International Plan of Active Ageing.

He said the games are organized jointly by the National and Provincial Departments of Sports, Health and Social Development. According to Zola, Sport Minister Fikile Mbalula will preside over the games.

The event takes place at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium from nine in the morning.

The NGG were first held in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape in 2009, and in 2010 were held at Richards Bay in Kwazulu Natal. The Western Cape was the winner for of both of those games.

Citizen