The Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) has withdrawn from its commitment to host the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Beach Games in August 2023. The event was scheduled for August 5th to the 12th, in Bali, Indonesia.
The proximity of the withdrawal has forced ANOC to cancel what would have been the second edition of the World Beach Games. It also leaves the ANOC searching for an alternative venue for their General Assembly, which was due to take place alongside the World Beach Games.
The news was met with “great surprise and extreme disappointment” from the ANOC, who released an official statement earlier today. They said the KOI’s actions “will deny athletes from 100 qualified NOCs from fulfilling their ambitions of competing at the Games,” and went on to apologise to the athletes, fans and international federations.
According to the ANOC statement:
“The KOI stated the decision was taken after the budget was not released by the Government of the country… While there have been challenges in the Games preparations, as at any major multi-sport event, ANOC had been regularly assured by the KOI that solutions would be found and the Games would go ahead as planned. ANOC and the KOI met for weekly coordination meetings, as recently as last week, and at no point did the KOI indicate there were any issues that would lead to such an outcome.”
The World Beach Games included rowing beach sprints. The International Olympic Committee postponed their announcement on whether beach sprints will be included at Los Angeles 2028. The announcement was expected in June but is not likely to be made until mid-September.
Click for the full ANOC statement.
