Over 200 athletes from around the world have taken part in the first competitive day of the Dwarf World Games in Belfast.

The event, held at the Mary Peters Track in south Belfast, involved a range of sports including running, javelin, soccer, hockey and badminton.

The Olympic star herself opened proceedings as athletes were welcomed from a range of sporting backgrounds, from under-11s in their first tournament through to paralympians.

The Dwarf Athletic Association of Northern Ireland (DAANI) secured the bid to bring the World Games to Belfast after successfully organising the Belfast City European and Open Championships in 2006. Since then preparations have been in full force.

Eugene McVeigh, chair of DAANI, said: “We are honoured to be hosting such a prestigious event.

“The success of the Belfast City European and Open Championships in 2006 inspired us to bid to host a larger, more competitive and more spectacular event and hopefully over the course of the week everyone involved will experience this.

“We felt that we had quite a few local athletes and it would give them the opportunity to compete and hopefully we'll get support from the public,” he said. “Overall, it's a great opportunity to give people with |restricted growth their first step into sport and then for the more elite athletes the opportunity to compete with athletes from around the world.”

Competing for Northern Ireland, David Kelly (15), said: “I'm competing in the football and the badminton. I have never competed in anything international, it's the first time, so I'm affected by a few nerves, he said.

“For some people this is a fun event, a recreational thing, but especially with the older ones it's more competitive.”

Team Ireland's Yvonne McCloskey (14) said: “It's an honour to be here. It's held all over the world and now it's being held in Northern Ireland.

“I'm competing in the running, shot-putt, javelin, discus, soccer, basketball and hockey.”

Fergus Rattigan (20), also in the Ireland team, said: “I don't get the opportunity to compete in sporting events that often.

“I have been training for this for a couple of months. I don't think I'll do terribly.”

Representing the ‘Statesmen’ team from America, Eddie Piedra (23) said: “It's a great honour to represent your state in Northern Ireland, knowing all of us were selected by our country. It's nice to be here to compete against all the other countries in the world.

“Everyone wants that top spot, everyone wants the gold. Track and field times can go towards qualifying for the Paralympics.”

Amy Roloff, Statesmen team coach, said: “The team is very competitive, but we also know football is a European sport, not necessarily an American one.

“We have some wonderful athletes here. Either we'll get some good competition or we'll give them good competition.”

Amy, who also stars in the American reality television series ‘Little People, Big World', said: “My crew are covering this event. The television series is one of the first to depict little people as just regular people.”

The Games will run until Sunday.