Durban to host World Transplant Games

The 2013 World Transplant Summer Games will take place in the South African port city of Durban from Sunday.

More than 1,800 participants from 50 countries and regions will take part in the Games,in which there would be over 50 events including golf, volleyball, bowling, athletics, swimming, tennis and squash, reports Xinhua.

The Games are the biggest organ donor awareness event in the world, those who will compete in the event will be recipients of either solid organs or bone marrow.

The event is aimed at encouraging the public to be organ donors and offer hope to those waiting transplants.

The World Transplant Games Federation president Olivier Coustere Thursday said: "Countries that have hosted the event have experienced a 30 percent or higher increase in organ donation rates."

James Nxumalo, Mayor of Ethekwini Municipality where the games would be held, Thursday expressed joy at hosting the competition.

"The world transplant games are a celebration of the human spirit, giving individuals with previously life-threatening illnesses the chance to compete in a high-level sports event and prove that they can not only lead normal, fulfilling lives, but push the boundaries of their physical endurance," Nxumalo said.