World Beach Games 2023 cancelled at short notice

The second edition of the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games has been cancelled, with a month to go until they were meant to begin, after Bali withdrew as host.

The ANOC World Beach Games, known as the World Beach Games, is an international multi-sport event organised by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), which features various watersports disciplines.

The games had been scheduled to take place in Bali, Indonesia, from 5-12 August 2023, with 1,500 athletes from 130 countries competing in 31 disciplines across 14 sports. Sports scheduled for the games included aquathlon, beach handball, beach waterpolo, wingfoil and surfing.

In a statement, ANOC expressed its frustration.

“It is with great surprise and extreme disappointment that ANOC has learnt that the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) has withdrawn from its commitment to host the ANOC World Beach Games and the ANOC General Assembly in August 2023,” it says.

“With the games scheduled to take place in one month, the decision at such late notice prevents ANOC from being able to find an alternative host, and so there is no option but to cancel this year’s edition of the games in Bali in August as well as the ANOC General Assembly.

“Regarding the ANOC General Assembly, a decision will be taken in the coming weeks regarding a new location and dates.”

The Indonesian Olympic Committee says the decision was taken after the budget for the games was not released by the Indonesian government. There is currently no more information on the reasons behind this decision.

“ANOC is very disappointed by the KOI’s actions which will deny athletes from 100 qualified NOCs from fulfilling their ambitions of competing at the games,” ANOC’s statement continues.

ANOC says they had met the KOI for weekly coordination meetings as recently as last week, and there had been no indication of any issues.

In a statement, David Graham, World Sailing CEO, says: “Everyone at World Sailing is deeply disappointed by the cancellation of the ANOC World Beach Games, and we know that disappointment is shared by the Association of National Olympic Committees.

“My thanks go to the World Sailing and Wingfoil Racing officials who had worked hard to make the sailing competition at the ANOC World Beach Games possible.

“In particular, I want to acknowledge that this will be especially disappointing for the athletes who were looking forward to competing, and had spent so much time and energy preparing for what would have been a wonderful event.”