Indonesian Wheelchair Rugby team at the Asian ParaGames

” Press,Press” shouts the Indonesian Wheelchair bench.We are in the final seconds of the playoff for the Bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Para Games (APG) in Incheon,Korea.

Bang,followed by a dull thud as a Malaysian player strapped into his wheelchair gets tackled over by a Indonesian player.Welcome to wheelchair rugby.The hit on the Malaysian is even more painful for him, as it was one of Indonesia’s female players who tackled him,knocking him over,something the Malaysian all male team is not used too.However all is to no avail as Malaysia holds out to win the Bronze medal.

However Indonesia can be proud ,with the medal play off being the culmination of an incredible journey that started on August 22,when BSF Asia founder Rodney Holt received an invitation to send an Indonesian wheelchair rugby team to the afore mentioned Asian Para Games, an event held every four years and second only to the Paralympics in importance for Asian countries..

Holt well known in the South East Asian wheelchair sports world, was planning to start a wheelchair rugby program in Bali and had had even secured sponsorship from Luis Dreyfus Commodities to purchase rugby wheelchairs chairs,which are unique, built to withstand constant ramming.

The invitation from the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) and Korean Wheelchair Rugby Association (KWRA) set in motion an incredible series of events from securing approval from the Indonesian National Paralympic Committee,to getting visa’s for Korea,which meant hand carrying passports to Jakarta to be processed in record time to persons like Katrina and Brianna Simorangkir jumping to help run a benefit concert to finding suitable players ,that fit the classification requirements of the sport all in 5 weeks.

After securing approval from the National Paralympic Committee,next step was raising funds.BSF Trustee Vicki Spencer started the ball rolling by walking a 100 km over 4 days.Next a benefit concert with amongst others SID’s Jerinx side project Devildice as well as Reborn,The Hydrant and the legendary Thuds.BSF tipped in,and soon representing Indonesia at the APG was looking less a dream and more a reality.

Korea sent their U23 Team to Bali to help prepare Indonesia with a week long workshop and training,and then coupled with visas,the Indonesian Wheelchair Rugby team joined the rest of the Indonesian Team of 125 strong to the Asian Para Games in Jakarta airport.Time for a few photos with the Indonesian sports minister and it was off to Korea.

Spare wheels during a game

Greeted on arrival with a nice krisp 9 degrees Celsius,a temperature never before experienced by the Balinese,however this was but the first of many new experiences for the Balinese athletes.The games were held at the state of art Seonhak Gymnasium as indoor sports venues are called in called in Korea,it seemed a world away from training in Bali International School,which by Bali standards is very good.And the accommodation on the 10th floor was a new experience for Balinese used to one or two story buildings.

The tournament itself consisted the group games playing powerful teams like Japan (world rank 4 ) and Korea(ranked 22) , and finally Indonesia lost the bronze Malaysia .

As Head Coach Holt commented ” I am very proud of our team . We put together a team in 5 weeks,playing against teams that have been playing for years.We had to use borrowed wheelchairs as ours were not ready in time,so not optimized for each player physical charateristics.Indonesia gained a lot of respect and friends in the week long event,and with a young team,oldest player being 24 years old, we can look forward an enhanced wheelchair rugby program in coming years.In 2015 we travel to Malaysia for a tournament April,followed by international Wheelchair Rugby tournament at the 3rd Bali ParaGames in early August,and following Bali, Indonesia has been invited the Rio Paralympic qualifiers in October in Japan.And finallyI would like to thank Jenal Rahlawan and Roy Syahputra ,who answered the call and spent hours preparing,and guiding the young team with the BSF team and finally our sponsors KTP,Coaltrans,FIS,TongTeik ,Bali International School,Dreyfus and Hotel Kristal without whose support this would not be possible”