Consider all of the participants, as members of the same country at the asian/olympic/world games championship. Now, Introduce each one with reference to their favourite sports, mentioning the position or role.
Ex: I am X, the fastest right wing forward of the football team
I am y, the selected discus throw partcicipant
etc, etc
Its a fun way to start off, and often the mentioned role sticks through out the program reinforces, the participants sporting attitude.