1st Bali Beach Games

On Sunday December 1,BSF Asia’s (BSF) inaugural Bali Beach Games were held at Mertasari Beach,Sanur,site of the 1st Asian Beach Games held in 2008.With 380 competitors,the Bali Beach Games were a unique multi-sports event in that they were Integrated,ie having disable and able sports side by side and in some cases competing directly.As BSF’s Rodney Holt describes it “This is part of BSF’s program of integrated sports to more generally promote the human rights of people living with disabilities to fully participate in all aspects of society. In this regard sport can be seen as a stepping stone for those living with disabilities (and their families) to move from isolation into the mainstream of society, and also educate those who do not have a disability to understand that those that do have rights that include being able to fully participate in society and not face discrimination”

The Beach Games started off with the Quadrathon,a 4 leg event run around Sanur comprising : swimming,biking,running and canoeing.The inaugural event was won by Barry Williamson,in front of Bangun Putra Agung and Ngurah Oman.In the Senior Angus walker edged out Australian visually impaired para olympian Kingsley Bulgarin and Richard Voss.After being race marshals for the Quadrathon,it was now the turn of the life guards, with the Surf Life Saving event run with Balawista.Teams from Kuta,Canggu,Sanur and West Java (Pelabuan Ratu) competing in beach sprints,paddle,rescue,swimming totaling 60 competitors.Meanwhile the Beach Cricket with over 140 players both female and male was in full swing.Teams from around Denpasar competed in the Junior High and Senior High brackets.

 

The beach was a hub of activity from the Beach Soccer event comprising local teams as well as visiting teams from Singapore and the USA, in a tough comp played on hard sand,with a number of injuries,in the end it was Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) triumphing over fellow Singaporian team Team Friendly 5:2 in the final. It is worth mentioning that the Deafmute team from KIP orphanage did not disgrace themselves and played with a lot of passion to Bali Rugy Club holding a demonstration of Beach Rugby and over in the carpark,the wheelchair Basketball 3 on 3 was in full swing,with Team Mitrais winning the final over Team Aneka (Senang Hati).Nearby the powerlifting attracted a big crowd ,the disabled powerlifters battling the able lifters with the disabled powerlifters showing remarkable upper body strength to edge out the able bodied athletes.Wayan Sugianto who suffered polio as a child,with a lift of 105Kg (twice his body weight) took home the gold.

 

BSF’s Vicki Spencer concluded “A successful day ,with a new concept of integrated sports,we would like to thank our partners in this event BIMC,Balawista,YPAC,Senang Hati,ProAm Beach Soccer,Cricket Denpasar and we look forward to a bigger Beach Games next year”