The Games take place in Coventry over six days from 11-16 August. More than 1,600 young athletes from across the globe will be taking part across seven sports.

South Lanarkshire will be sending a team of 16 young people – eight in girls’ football, four in athletics (two girls and two boys) and four in swimming (two girls and two boys). Four coaches will be preparing the team in their quest for gold medals.

General Manager of South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture, Kay Morrison, said: “Good luck to the team who I am certain will represent South Lanarkshire brilliantly. I know they have all given 100 per cent to make the team, and the hard work will continue as they prepare for the Games.

“South Lanarkshire has a proud tradition of supporting the ICG, and I am sure many people remember the fantastic occasion when we jointly hosted the Games with North Lanarkshire in 2011.

“That was the year we ‘welcomed the world’ to Lanarkshire and I am sure our colleagues in Coventry will put on a fantastic occasion and it will be a truly memorable experience for everyone involved.”

South Lanarkshire Council’s Executive Director of Community and Enterprise Resources, David Booth, said: “Congratulations to all the young people who have made the team and I wish them the very best of luck.

“Congratulations as well to everyone at SLLC – I know they have been working extremely hard to make sure South Lanarkshire is represented at the Games.”

The ICG is an event endorsed by the International Olympic Committee which first took place in Slovenia in 1968 for children aged 12 to 15 years.

Since the first Games took place children from 114 different ‘cities’ worldwide have taken part.

A delegation from South Lanarkshire first took part in the 32nd ICG in 2000 in response to an invitation from Hamilton (Ontario) to all of the Hamilton’s across the world to take part in their millennium games. Since then, a delegation from South Lanarkshire has taken part in the 38th ICG 2004 in Cleveland (USA), the 39th 2005 in Coventry (England), the 41st 2007 in Reykjavik (Iceland), the 47th 2013 in Windsor (Canada) and the 49th 2015 in Alkmaar (Netherlands).

Children from South Lanarkshire have also taken part in the ICG when the council partnered with North Lanarkshire Council to form Team Lanarkshire in preparation for jointly hosting the 45th Games in 2011. Previous to this, Team Lanarkshire participated in the 42nd ICG 2008 in San Francisco (USA), the 43rd 2009 in Athens (Greece) and the 44th 2010 in Manama (Bahrain).

To represent Team South Lanarkshire, the participants must either live in South Lanarkshire, go to school in South Lanarkshire or be member of a South Lanarkshire Club.

This year’s representatives are:

Girls’ football: Lily Boyce, May Cruft, Ellie Dunachie, Ellie Dyson, Kate Fraser, Sienna McGoldrick, Olivia McStay and Emma Thomson.

Athletics: Emma Clark, Owen Murphy, Tehillah Chioma Ikechukwu Okonkwo and Angus Wilkinson.

Swimming: Dean Barghati, Rebecca Cole, Emma McGavin and Thomas Traynor.

Coaches: Girls’ Football – Cara McBrearty, Athletics – Lesley McNicol and Tom McTaggart and Swimming – Gordon McGavin.