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World Beach Games bust casts long shadow over Indonesia's hosting future
Exactly one month before the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games Bali was due to start, the organizing committee announced the tournament's cancellation due to Indonesia withdrawing as host.
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One of the two mascots of the 2023 Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Beach Games is introduced to the public on April 29, 2023. Indonesia suddenly withdrew as the host of the multi-event tournament, which was slated to be held in Bali in August, leaving ANOC with “no choice but to cancel” the event, according to a statement published on July 4. (NOC Indonesia/Tetuko Mediantoro)
T
he blame game over Indonesia withdrawing as the host of this year’s World Beach Games in Bali looks likely to deal a fresh blow to the nation’s hosting credibility for more global sporting tournaments, as the move forced the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) to cancel the event just weeks before the competition was scheduled to start.
The second ANOC World Beach Games, the world’s third biggest multi-event sports competition after the Summer and Winter Olympics, was slated to feature more than 100 national Olympic teams in the beach and water sports categories to draw in millions of visitors to aid in the holiday island’s post-pandemic recovery.
But exactly one month before the scheduled opening of the Games, the country’s National Olympic Committee (NOC Indonesia) announced that it had withdrawn as host due to lack of preparation and budget constraints, catching sporting teams and authorities alike off guard.
“We have no other choice but to swallow this bitter pill because with the limited time, we saw that it was difficult to prepare for a world-class multi-event [competition],” NOC Indonesia head Raja Sapta “Okto” Oktohari said in a statement on Wednesday.
He also suggested that bureaucratic red tape was to blame for the insufficient time to prepare for the Games, which was made worse by the withdrawal of several sponsors.
Okto, the son of affluent Hanura Party chairman Oesman Sapta Odang, was recently reelected for a second term as the committee’s chairman.
But Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo was quick to hit back, saying the government had given the committee ample time for preparations after the country was named in June last year as the host of the 2023 Beach Games.
