City to host its second 'games'

Leicester has won the right to host the Great Britain Special Olympics in 2009 - the second time the city has been chosen to host the event. The city, which beat Southampton to win the honour, hosted the games in 1989.

The national games are held every two years - alternating between summer and winter games. The Special Olympics involves 2,500 athletes with learning disabilities competing in more than 21 different sports over a period of eight days. Sporting clubs, universities, voluntary organisations and the business community will work with the city council to organise the games.

Councillor John Mugglestone said: "We have some excellent facilities on offer for this high profile sporting event. We know that we can make the Special Olympics 2009 a success, because we made a success of it before."