Indonesia to stop hosting World Beach Games
LAUSANNE, Switzerland –
Indonesia pulled out of hosting another global sporting event at short notice on Tuesday, three months after refusing to welcome the Israeli team to the Under-20 World Cup.
The World Beach Games were scheduled to be held in Bali from August 5 to 15, but were canceled after the Indonesian government pulled the budget, the global group of national Olympic bodies known as ANOC said on Tuesday.
ANOC said it had no choice but to cancel the 14 sports championships — including beach versions of soccer, tennis and volleyball, plus surfing and open water swimming — because it couldn’t find a replacement host in so little time.
About 1,500 athletes from 100 countries, including Israel, were expected to compete in Bali in 41 medal events.
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country and has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, while publicly supporting the Palestinian cause.
“The KOI (Indonesian Olympic Committee) stated that the decision was made after the budget was not released by the country’s government and there is now no time for the games to be held,” Lausanne-based ANOC said in a statement, who commented that it was “great surprise and extreme disappointment.”
“ANOC and the KOI met for weekly coordination meetings as recently as last week, and at no point did the KOI indicate that there were any issues that would lead to such an outcome,” the umbrella group said.
No political issue was mentioned in the ANOC statement, but the issue loomed after Indonesia’s refusal to comply with FIFA’s demands to allow Israel to play in the U20 football tournament it had qualified for several months earlier.
FIFA first postponed the draw of the tournament in Bali and deprived Indonesia of the actual championship days later.
After Argentina hosted the U20 World Cup, Israel achieved one of its best results in international football last month. Israel lost to eventual champions Uruguay in the semifinals, finishing third.
Indonesia’s political stance on hosting events prompted the International Olympic Committee to warn sports organizations against choosing the country for events.
The IOC said two weeks ago that it advised ANOC to “look very closely at this situation” ahead of the World Beach Games.
Bali would also host the annual ANOC meeting of over 200 Olympic national bodies. That meeting will be postponed until a new host can be found, ANOC said.
FIFA last month awarded Indonesia host rights for the Men’s Under-17 World Cup, which begins in November, in which Israel will not participate.
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