Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) is a multinational, multi-sports event, that involves athletes from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation competing in a number of sports. The Solidarity Games were initially created to strengthen the Islamic camaraderie and reinforce Islamic values onto the youth. Currently, the Organization of Islamic Conference consists of 57 members across the Islamic nations. The 2021 edition was originally planned to be held in August 2021 but was postponed by a year due to COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 Islamic Solidarity Games will be held from August 09 to August 18, 2022. Who Will Host 2022 Commonwealth Games? Is India Participating in CWG 2022? And Other FAQ's About Quadrennial Event in Birmingham.

The first Islamic Solidarity Games was held in 2005 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In the debut year of the event, 7000 male-only athletes from 54 countries had taken part to compete against each other across 13 different sports. The second edition of the games was cancelled due to a dispute between Iran and the Arab World, which was going to be held in April 2010 in Iran after rescheduling it from October 2009. Since that it has been held after every four years.

Islamic Solidarity Games Previous Hosts

Year Host  Dates
2005 Mecca, Saudi Arabia April 8 to 20
2010 Tehran, Iran Cancelled
2013 Palembang, Indonesia September 22 to October 1
2017 Baku, Azerbaijan May 12 to 22
2021 Konya, Turkey August 9 to 18, 2022

The 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games will be the fifth edition of the event, it will be held at Konya, Turkey, from August 09 to 18, 2022. The games were postponed from August 2021 to September 2021 as the dates coincided with the Tokyo Summer Olympics, then again it was postponed to August 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

2021 Islamic Solidarity Games Schedule

Dates Events
August 5, 2022 Cycling
August 6, 2022 Cycling
August 7, 2022 Swimming, cycling, handball, and table tennis
August 8, 2022 Swimming, cycling, handball, table tennis, volleyball, and football
August 9, 2022 Opening ceremony, archery, swimming, bocce, football, handball, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, and volleyball
August 10, 2022 Athletics, gymnastics, Wrestling, archery, swimming, bocce, football, handball, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, and volleyball
August 11, 2022 Athletics, gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling, archery, cycling, swimming, bocce, football, handball, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, and volleyball
August 12, 2022 Athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, archery, cycling, bocce, football, handball, taekwondo, and volleyball
August 13, 2022 Athletics, gymnastics, weightlifting,3x3 basketball, wrestling, archery, cycling, swimming, football, handball, shooting, table tennis, and volleyball
August 14, 2022 Athletics, gymnastics,3x3 basketball, weightlifting, archery, fencing, cycling, swimming, football, handball, shooting, table tennis, and volleyball
August 15, 2022 Athletics, Judo, 3x3 basketball, weightlifting, archery, fencing, swimming, football, shooting, table tennis, and volleyball
August 16, 2022 Judo, 3x3 basketball, archery, fencing, swimming, football, shooting, kickboxing
August 17, 2022 Judo, 3x3 basketball, archery, fencing, swimming, gymnastics, karate, kickboxing
August 18, 2022 Closing ceremony, archery, gymnastics, karate, and kickboxing

Turkey are at the top of the all-time Islamic Solidarity Games medal table with 305 medals, including 90 golds. Hosting the fifth edition of the games gives Turkey a great opportunity to extend their lead from Iran sitting in second place with 90 gold medals as they won't be participating in the event.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2022 07:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).