On the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in the South African city of Johannesburg, the 2018 BRICS Games are also taking place.
Teams from the member states – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – took part in the opening ceremony of the games on Tuesday.
More than 200 athletes from the five member nations will compete in several sporting codes over the next few days.
These include women’s football and Under-21 volleyball.
Tuesday’s opening ceremony was a showcase of South African culture and Chinese Wushu.
The first BRICS Games took place in 2017, in Guangzhou, China.
Teams have praised the Games, saying they provided a platform for better friendships between the participating nations.
“Athletes from the five countries get to know each other better through the games. BRICS games not only provides a platform of competition, also help the youth develop friendship,” Peng Zhao, the spokerperson of the Chinese team said.
“The significance of BRICS games is that we create an opportunity for our young people to get to know one another. We use the power of sport as the universal language to get them to play, to interact and to teach to respect within the rules,” Gert Oosthuizen, South Africa’s deputy sports minister said.
