The Military World Games, known as the Olympic Games for the military, is the top multi-sport event for military personnel from across the globe

India has sent a delegation of around 100 soldiers selected from the three wings of the armed forces to participate in the 7th World Military Games, inaugurated by President Xi Jinping in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Friday.

While the chief VIP observer from India for the games is Vice-Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, the Indian delegation is headed by Lieutenant General Sanjay Kumar Jha.

Dasgupta was expected to be part of a group call on President Xi on Friday followed by a meeting with the vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), Xu Qiliang, on Saturday.

Dasgupta is currently the Controller of Personnel Services in the Indian navy.

Over the next ten days, a total of 9,308 soldiers from 109 countries will participate in a record-high 329 events across 27 sports in the host city of Wuhan, state media reported.

It is formally called the 7th International Military Sports Council (CISM) Military World Games.

The Military World Games, known as the Olympic Games for the military, is the top multi-sport event for military personnel from across the globe.

The military games are coinciding with China’s most high-profile annual seminar on defence and strategic issues, the 9th Xiangshan Forum to be held in Beijing between October 20 and 22.

The games are also being held just three weeks after China held its biggest military parade in Beijing on October 1 to mark 70th year of the founding of the country under the rule of the Communist Party of China.

Authorities in Wuhan have built a number of new venues for the games including the Wuhan Five Rings Sports Centre comprising a stadium that can hold 30,000 people, a gymnasium that can seat 8,000, and a swimming centre that can accommodate more than 10,000 people.

The Chinese state media is promoting the games as one of the big events of the year.

“The military gala, taking place in China for the first time, has already broken records. The opening ceremony will present the world’s largest 3D stage, using advanced projectors, lights and LED displays to form the 3-dimensional effect.

The high-tech elements used in the ceremony will help visually expand the stage’s space, presenting a multi-dimensional visual effect and a 360-degree panoramic view,” official news agency, Xinhua said in a report.

Among the disciplines at the game are formation skydiving, style skydiving and skydiving accuracy.

“Military pentathlon is a poly athletic competition consisting of five events - shooting, obstacle run, obstacle swimming, throwing and cross-country running. The site is set up to simulate the battlefield environment, and so the competition stretches the limits of endurance,” the Xinhua report added.