IBSA World Games

The IBSA World Games (formerly IBSA World Championships and Games) or World Blind Games are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA). The events enable blind and partially sighted athletes to compete in a number of sports.[1] The first event took place at Madrid, Spain in 1998.[2]

Events

IBSA World Games

EditionYearHostDatessports
11998  Spain, MadridJuly 18–26[2]4
22003  Canada, QuebecAugust 5–10[3]5
32007  Brazil, São PauloJuly 28-August 8[4]6 [5]
42011  Turkey, AntalyaApril 1–10[1]7
52015  South Korea, SeoulMay 8–1810
62019Not held--
72023  United Kingdom, BirminghamAugust 18–2711 [6]

IBSA World Youth Games (WYC)

  • Former name: IBSA World Youth and Student Games
EditionYearHostDatesSports
12005  USA, Colorado SpringsAugust 4–105
22007  USA, Colorado SpringsJuly 11–175
32009  USA, Colorado SpringsJuly 15–203
42011  USA, Colorado SpringsJuly 13–183 [7]
52013  USA, Colorado SpringsSeptember 13–152
62015  USA, Colorado SpringsJuly 26–301
72017  HUN, BudaörsJuly 1–91 [8]

1998 IBSA World Games

The inaugural 1998 sports event was held in Madrid, Spain for athletics, swimming, goalball and judo for the blind and vision-impaired.

2003 IBSA World Games

The 2003 Quebec, Canada event included five-a-side football, goalball and judo, other disciplines have been added to the event. Blind athletes were able to compete in the following sports: powerlifting, ten-pin and nine-pin bowling, biathlon, alpine skiing, archery, showdown, swimming, shooting, torball, Nordic skiing, athletics and cycling. Although a lot of winter sports were added to the list such as skiing, but also bowling and many others, but was held in five sports: Swimming, athletics, goalball, judo, and powerlifting.[9]

2007 IBSA World Games

The 2007 São Paulo, Brazil sports were powerlifting, judo, goalball, football, swimming, and athletics.[10]

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Russia (RUS)28151154
2  Belarus (BLR)1813738
3  Brazil (BRA)17221958
4  Spain (ESP)16232362
5  China (CHN)1271231
6  Cuba (CUB)104519
7  Iran (IRI)81413
8  Poland (POL)72211
9  Algeria (ALG)71917
10  Italy (ITA)64414
11  Germany (GER)57921
12  Greece (GRE)55212
13  Malaysia (MAS)4116
14  Ukraine (UKR)37313
15  Turkey (TUR)3025
16  Venezuela (VEN)26816
17  Portugal (POR)2428
18  Great Britain (GBR)2417
19  New Zealand (NZL)2204
 Sweden (SWE)2204
21  Azerbaijan (AZE)2057
22  Canada (CAN)2002
 Cyprus (CYP)2002
24  Angola (ANG)1315
25  Japan (JPN)1247
26  Chinese Taipei (TPE)1124
 France (FRA)1124
28  Bulgaria (BUL)1113
 Thailand (THA)1113
 Tunisia (TUN)1113
31  Austria (AUT)1012
 Croatia (CRO)1012
33  South Korea (KOR)1001
34  Argentina (ARG)0336
35  Mexico (MEX)0325
36  Australia (AUS)0213
 Kenya (KEN)0213
38  Czech Republic (CZE)0202
 United States (USA)0202
40  Finland (FIN)0112
41  Ireland (IRL)0101
 South Africa (RSA)0101
43  Serbia (SRB)0022
44  Netherlands (NED)0011
 Switzerland (SUI)0011
46  Belgium (BEL)0000
 Colombia (COL)0000
 Estonia (EST)0000
 Hong Kong (HKG)0000
 Hungary (HUN)0000
 India (IND)0000
 Iraq (IRQ)0000
 Israel (ISR)0000
 Kazakhstan (KAZ)0000
 Latvia (LAT)0000
 Lithuania (LTU)0000
 Mongolia (MGL)0000
 Philippines (PHI)0000
 Puerto Rico (PUR)0000
 Slovakia (SVK)0000
 Uruguay (URU)0000
Totals (61 entries)175157155487

2011 IBSA World Games

The 2011 Antalya, Turkey sports were athletics, chess, futsal (football) B1, futsal (football) B2/B3, goalball, judo, powerlifting, swimming.[12][13]

2015 IBSA World Games

Sweden men's goalball team throwing against Turkey at the 2015 IBSA World Games in Seoul, South Korea.

The 2015 IBSA World Championships and Games was held from 8 to 18 June 2015, in Seoul, South Korea and included competitions in ten sports:[1]

Venues were scattered around the city, including opening and closing ceremonies at the Jamsil Arena. About 1626 athletes competed from fifty-seven countries.[14] The event motto was 'See with Passion, Run with Hope'.[15] Mascots were Dari, Haechi and Suri.[16]

  *   Host nation (South Korea)

2015 IBSA World Championships and Games medal table
RankNOCGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Russia (RUS)483531114
2  Ukraine (UKR)16111138
3  Iran (IRI)1561132
4  China (CHN)915933
5  South Korea (KOR)*911929
6  Azerbaijan (AZE)86317
7  Turkey (TUR)561223
8  Uzbekistan (UZB)52512
9  Japan (JPN)412723
10  Chinese Taipei (TPE)44210
11  Algeria (ALG)4127
12  Mexico (MEX)38516
13  Thailand (THA)3306
14  Mozambique (MOZ)3148
15  Czech Republic (CZE)3025
16  Poland (POL)24713
17  Canada (CAN)1225
 Finland (FIN)1225
19  Croatia (CRO)1214
20  Australia (AUS)1146
21  Malaysia (MAS)1135
22  Israel (ISR)1124
23  Bulgaria (BUL)1113
24  Hong Kong (HKG)1023
25  Georgia (GEO)1012
 Germany (GER)1012
 United States (USA)1012
28  Argentina (ARG)1001
 Lithuania (LTU)1001
 Netherlands (NED)1001
31  Venezuela (VEN)09413
32  Kazakhstan (KAZ)0325
33  Great Britain (GBR)0314
34  Italy (ITA)0112
 Spain (ESP)0112
36  Belarus (BLR)0101
 Mongolia (MGL)0101
38  Brazil (BRA)0066
39  Estonia (EST)0022
 India (IND)0022
41  France (FRA)0011
 Hungary (HUN)0011
 Indonesia (INA)0011
 Romania (ROU)0011
 Sweden (SWE)0011
Totals (45 entries)155154164473

2019 IBSA World Games

Nominations for the host nation for the 2019 IBSA World Games was called on 3 March 2017.[17][18] It was not possible to find a host nation able to cater for all the sports. Instead the IBSA Goalball and Judo Paralympic Games qualifying tournaments were held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States of America in June–July 2019, in conjunction with the federation's four-yearly international general assembly.[19]

2023 IBSA World Games

2023 IBSA World Games
Host cityBirmingham
CountryGreat Britain
OrganisersInternational Blind Sports Federation, British Blind Sport
Edition7th Games
OpeningAugust 14, 2023 (2023-08-14)
ClosingAugust 27, 2023 (2023-08-27)
Opened bySallie Barker, MBE (Chair of BBS)[20]
WebsiteIBSA Games Birmingham 2023

IBSA indicated it would commence searching for a host nation in the latter part of 2018.[19] On 11 May 2020, British Blind Sport and the University of Birmingham, England was announced as the host city, for 18–27 August 2023.[21] The tournament featured the sports of archery, chess, cricket, blind football, goalball, judo, powerlifting, showdown, tenpin bowling and tennis.[6] These games also serve as Paralympic qualifiers for goalball, blind football and judo.[22]

Archery

Twenty-eight archers from ten countries participated in the archery competition.[23] However, Great Britain took the majority of the medals, medaling in every single event. The VI1 final was between Belgian Reuben Vanhollebeke and Great Britain’s Clive Jones with Vanhollebeke taking the gold. The bronze went to Loredana Ruisi of Italy who beat Uganda's Tumisiime Gad Rauben. Four out of the 6 medals in the VI2/3 and VI Open finals went to British archers. Steve Prowse (GB) beat Nick Thomas (GB) to take the gold in the VI2/3 with the bronze going to Belgium's Kathleen Meurrens. In the VI Open, Terry Piper (GB) took gold with silver going to Andrea Thomas (GB). Great Britain's Debora Wright took bronze.[24][25]

Chess

Twenty players from seven countries participated in the chess tournament at the 2023 Games.[26] Medals were awarded for the best individual results in the tournament, the best individual results by women, and the best combined results of two-player teams from each country.[27] The individual gold medal was won by Dacian Pribeanu of Romania;[27][28] Axadxon Kimsanboyev of Uzbekistan took silver,[29] and Zoltán Zámbó of Hungary took bronze.[30] The women's individual gold medal was won by Hanna Vilics of Hungary.[30] The team gold medals went to Zoltán Zámbó and Hanna Vilics of Hungary;[30] Dacian Pribeanu and Ionel Morariu of Romania won the silver medals,[28] and Axadxon Kimsanboyev and Ilhom Gʻulomov of Uzbekistan took bronze.[29]

Cricket

The 2023 Games was the first to include cricket and featured both a men's and women's competition.[31] England, Australia and India all sent both men's and women's teams to the Games.[31][32][33] This tournament marks the debut of the Australian women's team at international level.[33] Despite having an active women's team, Pakistan only sent their men's team due to funding limitations.[34] Bangladesh made up the last of the men's teams competing in the 2023 Games.[35]

India women secured their place in the final, by comfortably winning their first 3 games. Pakistan qualified for the men's final by winning all 4 of their group games. India men made the semi-final by winning three of their 4 games, only losing to Pakistan.[36][37] Australia took the other place in the women's final with a higher net run rate than England.[38]

In the women's final, Australia batted first and set a score off 114/8 for 20 overs. Rain stopped play which left India with a revised target of 42 runs which they made in 21 balls. This made India undefeated at the Games, having won all 5 matches they played.[39] The men's tournament ended with Bangladesh taking bronze after losing to India in the semi-final. Bangladesh set India a target of 145 runs which they made in 17 overs which took them to the final. The men's final was won by Pakistan who made India's target of 185 in 14.1 overs, making that their 5th undefeated match at the games.[40]

Source: IBSA 2023[41][42]
Finals
   
L Australia114/8 (20 overs)
W India43/1 (3.3 overs) D/L


Men's cricket league table (2023 IBSA World Games)
PosTeamPldWLPtsNRR
1 Pakistan (F)440122.902
2 India (SF)43191.835
3 Bangladesh (SF)4226−0.351
4 England4133−1.921
5 Australia4040−2.083
Source: IBSA 2023[41][43]
SemifinalFinal
L India184/3 (20 overs)
L Bangladesh144/6 (20 overs)W Pakistan185/2 (14.1 overs)
W India145/3 (17 overs)

Football

Football at the 2023 IBSA World Games
Partially sighted football
 Ukraine
 United Kingdom
 Spain
Blind football (women)
 Argentina
 Japan
 Sweden
Blind football (men)
 Argentina
 China
 Brazil

Ukraine won the men's partially sighted football against England 4-3 in extra time, their third successive title. Spain beat Japan 9-0 to take third place.[44]

The women's blind football was won by Argentina who beat Japan 2-1 in the final. As well as being the first world championship for women's blind football, the final also had an entirely female referee team. The third place playoff between India and Sweden ended 0-0 but Sweden eventually won on penalties 1-0.[45]

In the men's blind football, Argentina also took the gold after a close game against China. It was 0-0 at full time and went to penalties, ending 2-1 to Argentia.[46] The bronze medal went to Brazil who beat Colombia 7-1.[47][48]

Goalball

Fourteen teams competed in the men's goalball competition and twelve in the women's.[49] These were then split into two groups who played each other in a round-robin format. The top four from each group then progressed to the knockout round.

Women's competition

Brazil, Canada, USA and Germany topped Group A to qualify for the knockouts and China, Japan, Israel and Great Britain topped group B.[50] Brazil, Canada, Japan and China all advanced to the semi-finals. Japan beat Brazil 4 to 3 to take one place in the final with the other going to China who beat Canada 6-1.[51] Brazil beat Canada 2 to 0 to take the bronze medal and Japan lost to China 3 to 0 to take the silver medal. China's gold medal means they have now qualified for the 2024 Paralympic Games.[49]

QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
      
 Brazil3
 Great Britain2
 Brazil3
 Japan4
 Japan4
 United States3
 Japan0
 China3
 China10
 Germany0
 China6Bronze match
 Canada1
 Canada6  Brazil2
 Israel3  Canada0

Men's competition

Group X was topped by Lithuania, Japan, South Korea and Finland. The top four positions in Group Y were taken by Ukraine, Iran, USA and Turkey.[50] The four teams to advance to the semi-finals were Lithuania, South Korea, Ukraine and Japan. The first place in the final was taken by South Korea who beat Lithuania 11 to 7 and the other place went to Japan after their 3-4 victory over Ukraine.[51] The bronze medal went to Ukraine after beating Lithuania 9 to 2 and the silver went to South Korea who lost to Japan 3 to 7. Japan's gold medal means they have now qualified for the 2024 Paralympic Games.[49]

QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
      
 Lithuania10
 Turkey2
 Lithuania7
 South Korea11
 Iran1
 South Korea8
 South Korea3
 Japan7
 Ukraine11
 Finland4
 Ukraine3Bronze match
 Japan4
 Japan5  Lithuania2
 United States1  Ukraine9

Judo

A total of 18 gold medals were available at the 2023 game, with 236 athletes from 42 countries competing.[52] The World Games also serves as qualification for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.[22] Both team gold medals went to Kazakhstan and both silver team medals went to Uzbekistan.[53]

Judo at the 2023 IBSA World Games individual medals table
RankNOCGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Iran (IRI)3014
2  China (CHN)2114
 Ukraine (UKR)2114
4  Turkey (TUR)1416
5  Brazil (BRA)1247
6  Kazakhstan (KAZ)1225
7  Uzbekistan (UZB)1214
8  France (FRA)1023
9  Italy (ITA)1012
10  Portugal (POR)1001
 Romania (ROU)1001
12  Azerbaijan (AZE)0213
13  Georgia (GEO)0123
14  Argentina (ARG)0022
 Japan (JPN)0022
 Moldova (MDA)0022
17  Algeria (ALG)0011
 Cuba (CUB)0011
 Germany (GER)0011
 India (IND)0011
 Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)0011
 United States (USA)0011
Totals (22 entries)15152959
Source: [54]

Powerlifting

The 2023 Games saw world records broken in the squats. Egyption Ahmed Hemid squatted 213kg in the 75kg weight class and Ukrainian Andril Myronets squatted 223kg in the 82.5kg class to set new world records.[25]

Powerlifing at the 2023 IBSA World Games individual medals table
RankNOCGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Ukraine (UKR)279137
2  Iran (IRI)36312
3  Egypt (EGY)28010
4  Georgia (GEO)2147
5  Turkey (TUR)1539
6  Czech Republic (CZE)1102
7  Japan (JPN)0112
8  Kazakhstan (KAZ)0033
9  Australia (AUS)0011
Totals (9 entries)36311683
Source: [55]

Ten pin bowling

Polish bowlers dominated the individual categories at the 2023 games, winning the B1 and B2 women's finals and the B1 and B2 men's finals. Karolina Rzepa won the B1 women's final with a total score of 1,055 and Jadwiga Rogacka won the B2 final with a score of 1329. Zdzisław Koziej of Poland won the B1 men's finals with a total score of 1,090. Mieczysław Kontrymowicz won the B2 men's final with a score of 1,561. Both of the B3 finals were won by Korean bowlers, with Lee Kun Hye winning the women's final with a score of 1584 and Bae Jinhyung winning the men's final with a score off 1555. In the doubles, Poland continued to dominate, taking gold and silver in the mixed doubles and silver in both the ladies and mens doubles.[56]

Showdown

The showdown tournament at the 2023 Games consisted of men's, women's and team competitions. The men's final was won by Deniss Ovsjaņņikovs of Latvia who beat Poland's Krystian Kisiel 3 sets to 1. The bronze was taken by Adrian Sloninka of Poland after beating Belgium's Christoff Eilers 3 sets to 2.[57] The women's final saw Elzbieta Mielczarek of Poland play Finland's Hanna Vilmi with Mielczarek winning 3 sets to nil. The bronze medal match saw two Italians face off. Graziana Mauro won 3 sets to nil against Sonia Tranchina to secure the medal.[58] The team event continued Poland's domination who beat Italy in the final. Finland beat Latvia to take the bronze medal.[59]

Tennis

A total of 11 gold medals in tennis were available at the Games across genders and classifications. There were single competitions for men and women in B1, B2, B3 and B4/5, as well as B2/4 men's and women's doubles. Additionally, there was a B1 mixed doubles.[60]

Australian players dominated to the Games, taking 5 of the 11 available gold medals and another two bronze and silver medals. Among these was Arato Katsuda-Green, who took silver in the B2/4 men's doubles and bronze in the B4/5 men's singles and turned 12 over the course of the Games.[61][62]

British tennis players took 11 medals in total, including 2 golds.[63]

  *   Host nation (Great Britain)

Tennis at the 2023 IBSA World Games medals table
RankNOCGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Australia (AUS)5229
2  Great Britain (GBR)*25411
3  Italy (ITA)2103
4  Pakistan (PAK)2002
5  Germany (GER)1023
6  Spain (ESP)0213
7  Colombia (COL)0101
 Lithuania (LTU)0101
 Luxembourg (LUX)0101
10  India (IND)0011
 Poland (POL)0011
 United States (USA)0011
Totals (12 entries)12131237
Source: [64]

External links

References