The Irish squad for the World Games departed Dublin at 6am this morning on their three legged trip to Cali via Paris and Bogota. The Irish lads will compete in the men’s 700kg on Saturday and 640kg on Sunday. The squad is Brendan McNulty, Connell Ward, Eugene Neary, Gerard Ferguson, James Kehoe, Jimmy Kehoe, Jimmy Ward, Joey Kehoe, John Coyle, Laurence Kehoe, Ollie Kehoe, Richard Bourke & Sean Roberts coached by Bill Kehoe & Gerry Ferguson.

The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports, or disciplines or events within a sport, that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The World Games are organised and governed by the International World Games Association (IWGA), under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Some of the sports that were on the program of the World Games eventually made it as Olympic sports (such as triathlon) or have been Olympic sports in the past (like tug of war). Participation in past World Games is included in the evaluation criteria used to select new Olympic sports adopted by the IOC on August 12, 2004. However, with the current position of the IOC to limit the Olympic Games to 10,500 participants, it is unlikely that many of the World Games sports will be elevated to Olympic sports.