Day two of the 2019 Global Games saw athletics and table tennis get underway as people tuned in from all over the world to follow the competition in Brisbane, Australia, on Monday (14 October).

All three Paralympic sports are being shown live via a comprehensive broadcast for the first time.

Athletes did not disappoint amongst growing awareness of the world’s biggest high performance sports event for people with intellectual impairments.

First athletics medals awarded

By Maddie Manwaring

The atmosphere at Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre was electric, with spectators filling the stands to witness the opening day of competition.

Australia, Russia, and France dominated in several events, and there were notable performances from Portugal, Japan and Thailand.

The day kicked off with the women’s hammer II1. Gold went to France’s Beatrice Aoustin with an impressive 44.06m throw, followed by Portugal’s Ines Fernandes in second with 36.83m.

Australia’s Lillee Wakefield came third in the event, beating her personal best with a throw of 30.99m. She said she was “very excited” to have placed as the Global Games are the highest level she can compete in for her sport.

The men’s hammer II1 was won by Thailand’s Boonkong Sanepoot with an impressive 47.05m, only 0.39m off the World Intellectual Impairment Sport world record of 47.44m. France’s Damien Rumeau came second with 42.54m, followed by Russia’s Alexandre Alexandrov in third with 40.03m.

Over at the women’s triple jump II1, Russia’s Aleksandra Ruchkina took out the gold with an impressive distance of 11.95m. Silver went to Portugal’s Ana Filipe with 10.62m. Aoustin won her second medal of the day, coming in third with 9.84m.

Australians Hugo Taheny and Andre Rivett took home gold and silver respectively in the men’s discus II1, followed by France’s Michael Paiman in third.

In the women’s 5,000m II1 final Japanese athletes put on an impressive performance to block out the podium. Sayaka Makita took home gold, Makiko Toyoshima silver and Misaki Ari won bronze.

In the new II2 category, Nicolas Virapin made history once again by winning the first men’s 100m World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games title in 14.18 seconds. The Frenchmen exploded out of the blocks to lead Australia’s Ethan Parry (15.06) and Sri Lanka’s Pasindu Amarasekara (15.86) onto the podium.

Two world records in the pool

By Katie Hopkins

The Brisbane Aquatic Centre was fired up heading into day 2 of the 2019 Global Games. Records were broken and champions were made.

The most notable performance of the day went to Australia, who were crowned champions in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay (3:39:88) with a new world record.

The efforts of team members Jack Ireland, Joshua Alford, Mitchell Kilduff and Liam Schluter saw the awesome foursome delight the home crowds.

“It was awesome. The boys did awesome to start me off and we bought it home in the end,” Schluter said.

On taking the gold on home soil Ireland continued: “It’s a pretty good feeling to win this medal on this stage.”

Brazil took home the gold medal in the women’s equivalent, clocking both World Intellectual Impairment Sport and Global Games records with a 4:16:80 finish.

Another world record fell in the men’s 400m individual medley II1.

Hong Kong’s Long Tin Chan (4:43:52) swam to victory for his second gold of the competition at the age of 18 – smashing the world record of Japan’s Keichi Nakajima by nearly 10 seconds.

Valeriia Shabalina (4:30:41) set the tone early on for the Russians, claiming gold in the women’s 400 metre freestyle II1 and setting a new Games record.

In the men’s 100 metre breaststroke it was her teammate Artem Pavlenko who was crowned champion in the II1 category, clocking a games record of 1:08:68.

A World record was also broken by fellow Russian, Viacheslav Emeliantsev (28.54), who placed first in the men’s 50m backstroke II1.

It was a big night for Australian Phoebe Mitchell who shone in the women’s 100 metre breaststroke II2 (1:49:54). Mitchell then went on to claim gold in the 50 metre backstroke II2.

*II1 records are subject to ratification by World Para Swimming.

First golds taken in road cycling

By Makayla Bishop

The women’s team time-trial featured a gruelling four laps around the 11km circuit at the Mount Cotton Driving Centre.

Great Britain’s individual time trial world champion, Kiera Byland, took home another gold medal to add to her collection with new teammate Lauren Booth.

“It was just different and it was nice getting to work together for a change,” Byland said.

Global Games debutant Booth said she was nervous but kept her eye on the prize to win the race.

“Half way through the team time trial I was getting tired and then I was just thinking about the finish line,” Booth said.

Russia took silver as they had done at the 2018 Cycling World Championships. Irina Nikitina and Liubov Tarasova stepped onto the podium in second.

Australia’s Annaliese Hodge and Chloe Turner claimed an impressive home bronze.

In the men’s Leo Collet and Jeremy Teixeira Pereira paired up for gold. Australia took another podium courtesy of Nathan Glarvey and Nathan Broeren with silver whilst India’s Chitharthan Thirumaran and Neel Yadav got India’s first Global Games cycling medal with bronze.

The Czech Republic suffered a puncture, gifting India the final podium spot.

Table tennis singles competition heats-up

By Mitchell Kidd

The knock-out stages of the women’s singles II1 saw Russia’s Elena Prokofeva along with Japan’s Kanami Furukawa, Poland’s Dorota Nowacka and Hong Kong’s Ting Ting Wong all progressing to the quarter-finals unbeaten with three wins each.

Meanwhile Hong Kong’s Paralympic bronze medallist Mui Mui Ng and Lola Amalia from Indonesia lost just one game on their way to the next round.

However, it was a much more difficult effort for Ito Maki from Japan who had to come from behind to progress to the quarter finals. It was also tough for Russia’s Anzhelika Kosacheva who played for over half an hour to secure a place.

In the men’s singles II1 the round of 32 saw Russia’s Alexandr Efremov beat Australia’s Rory Carrol 3-0.

Hong Kong’s Ka Ho Fan had a 3-1 win over his fellow countryman Wai Lok Wan.

Russia’s Alexy Kydryavtsev had a tough 3-2 win over Hong Kong’s Chung Yan Leung. France’s Richard Vallee came from behind to beat King Shing Yuen to win 3 to 2.

The men’s round of 16 then saw those who had earned byes in their group games taking to the tables.

Australia’s world No.4 Samuel Von Einem survived an early scare to win his match over Alexy Kydryavtsev 3-1.

Tournament favourite Hungary’s Peter Palos, the European and worlds silver medallist, knocked out Vallee with a 3-0 win.

3-0 wins also took place for Japanese teammates Takeshi Takemori and Toshiya Takahashi who join South Korea’s Chang Gi Kim in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

France’s Lucas Creange and Antoine Zhao along with Japan’s Koya Kato also reached the next stage.

Tuesday (14 October) will see the overall winners crowned after the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of the men’s and women’s singles take place at the Chandler Arena.

Tennis continues

An incredibly close group game in the men’s doubles saw a clash between world champions Fabrice Higgins and Dominic Iannotti and Australia’s Archie Graham and Mitchell James.

The match ended 7-6(2) to Graham and James, clearly determined to impress on home soil.

Graham continued his winning ways in the round robin stage of the men’s singles II1, beating Great Britain’s Thomas Mellor 6-0.

His fellow top ranked players, Higgins, the No.2 and Czech Republic’s Ondrej Sedlisky, the No.3, also claimed wins.

Belgium’s top seed Hanne Lavreyson received a walkover for her women’s singles match. British world champion Anne McBride beat France’s Elise Delvas 6-0.

McBride and Iannotti, the mixed doubles world title-holders, were the victors in their group stage win over France’s Sebastien Faure and Delvas.

In the women’s doubles, Worlds gold medallists Carla Lenarduzzi and Kelly Wren won their game on Monday.

Australia shine once again in basketball

By Aleasha Bliss

Australia had an amazing day showcasing the dedication and passion both men’s and women’s teams have for the sport with spectacular wins from both.

In the women’s 3×3 Australia Green led the hosts’ wins for the day by thrashing Israel 21-0.

They were followed by the unbeaten Australia Gold side taking the winning score of 21-5 against France.

Japan overcame France in a fast-paced game with a score of 20-12.

The men’s double round-robin matches certainly were the highlights of the day with tensions rising between teams as they battled it out to qualify for the finals.

Australia continued their winning streak with an impressive win of 107-59 against Poland in a game that Australian no.4 Jake De la Motte shone, scoring 30 of the winning points and ultimately taking the victory.

Australia and Portugal played a fierce match in their highly anticipated clash as they both fought to remain undefeated. This resulted in Portugal keeping their record with a final score of 81-60.

Stand-out players were Portugal’s No.6 Fabio Soares and No.15 Lukasz Ochmanski.

Australia Captain Joshua Cleary said that the highlight of his Global Games experience was finally getting on the court after 18 months of hard work in preparation for the event.

“It would be a dream come true [to win a gold medal] … to make that happen and win one finally would be awesome,” he said.

Portugal also had a victory against France with a top score of 55-42 with Soares scoring the highest amount of baskets for the match with 31 points.

France took the win from Poland with a score of 68-50

The 2019 edition of the world’s biggest high performance sports event for athletes with intellectual impairments – the Global Games – officially opened with a glittering ceremony in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday (12 October).

The Voice Australia finalist, Ellen Reed, headlined the performances at the Brisbane City Town Hall and more than 800 athletes from nearly 50 countries wound their way through the city centre.

The national anthem was then performed by ‘Choir of Hard Knocks’ Founder Jonathon Welsh ahead of fireworks in the city square. The opening was rounded off by a stirring performance by the Brisbane City Gospel Choir.

In attendance were Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk; Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner; Federal Minister for Sport, Senator Richard Colbeck; and Para sport luminaries including International Paralympic Committee President, Andrew Parsons, and World Intellectual Impairment Sport President, Marc Truffaut.

From Sunday (13 October) athletes will compete on their road to the Paralympic Games in athletics, swimming and table tennis whilst others will go for gold in seven other sports at the most important event of their careers.

Competition in athletics, swimming and table tennis will be shown live at https://gg2019.org/ alongside live results.

Broadcast footage and photographs will be available on request from lucy.dominy@inas.org

Swimming

A high quality field of athletes have made the journey to Brisbane.

This includes swimming Paralympic champions Michelle Alonso and Wai Lok Tang.

Spain’s Alonso is a double gold medallist in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB14 from London 2012 and Rio 2016. Tang, one of Hong Kong’s leading swimmers, is the title-holder in the men’s 200m freestyle S14.

Swimming schedule: https://gg2019.org/sports/swimming

Athletics

Cape Verde’s Gracelino Barbosa is the bronze medallist from the men’s 400m T20 from Rio 2016.

France’s Gloria Agblemagnon is the world No.2 in shotput F20 and the 2015 Global Games champion in the hammer throw. Agblemagnon is likely to be challenged in the shot-put by Ecuador’s Poleth Mendes, the silver medallist from the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.

Portugal’s Lenine Cunha has won over 200 international medals, including gold from 2015 and bronze from London 2012 in the long jump.

Tokyo 2020 hosts Japan have sent a large team as part of their preparation for their home Paralympics. Their frontrunners include Aimi Toyama as world ranked no.3 in the women’s 400m T20.

Athletics schedule: https://gg2019.org/sports/athletics

Table tennis

In table tennis Hungary’s world No. 2 Peter Palos collected silver as the 2018 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Para Table Tennis World Championships. Palos followed that up with the same colour at the Euros earlier this year.

France’s Lucas Creange is the world No.3 and European champion. He is also the defending Global Games gold medallist.

Australia’s Sam Von Einem, the world No.4, is also expected to be firmly in the mix as he looks to impress on his home soil.

In the women’s Hong Kong’s Ka Man Wong and Mui Wui Ng are both Paralympic medallists.

Japan’s Kanami Furukawa joins the field as the world No.5 and ITTF Worlds bronze medallist.

Table tennis schedule: https://gg2019.org/sports/table-tennis#schedule

New for 2019

Athletics, swimming and table tennis will both include medal events for two new categories at Brisbane 2019.

The II2 category is for athletes with a more several intellectual impairment whilst the II3 caters for athletes with high-functioning autism. The II3 competition is a trial for this edition as research into the category continues.

In the men’s athletics II2, France’s Nicolas Virapin will continue to make history. In 2018 Virapin became the first man to win medals in the category at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. He will go for the first Global Games titles in Brisbane.

France also reached success on the table tennis table in 2017 when Cedric Courrillaud claimed a historic first world title in the category. Teammate Alexandre Sol joined him on the podium.

In swimming the USA’s Libby Beem will also be a history maker. Beem will follow on from her debut at the 2017 World  Championships where she competed in the inaugural women’s II3 races.

As well as the Paralympic sports on the schedule, seven others will feature in Brisbane.

Cycling

Road cycling sees the return of Great Britain’s time trial and road race world champion Kiera Byland. Ecuador’s Eric Javier Surango Tufino highlights the men’s events as the road race world title holder.

France’s Jeremy Teixera Pereira will provide a challenge for Tufino as a former world champion in the time trial.

Track cycling will crown the competition on 19^th October as it makes its Global Games debut.

Cycling schedule: https://gg2019.org/sports/cycling#schedule

Tennis

British teenager Anna McBride upset the established order at the 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Tennis World Championships in Paris, France, when she stormed to gold in the women’s singles.

McBride, then aged just 14, beat Belgium’s double world champion Hanna Lavreyson in straight sets to take the gold.

Australia’s Kelly Wren, a multiple world title-holder and the Global Games champion, will line-up hoping to improve on her bronze from last year.

In the men’s singles, Australia have a bright hope in national legend Archie Graham.

Graham is the reigning world and Global Games champion and will surely be planning to make the most of the opportunity to win gold at home.

Great Britain’s Fabrice Higgins made it into both finals but struggled to overcome Graham in 2018 and at the last Global Games in 2015.

The tennis competition will also feature the Global Games debut of players competing in the II2 category.

Tennis schedule: https://gg2019.org/sports/tennis#schedule

Basketball

Hopes for the Australia Pearls are high in the women’s as the reigning world champions and defending Global Games title-holders.

The team are fielding two sides – Australia Gold and Australia Green – to play in the 3v3 format.

At the previous World Championships in 2017, Australia Gold left with the trophy following an all-national final against their teammates.

Eliza Mills headlined her team’s efforts with 27 goals. Kaitlyn Papworth was third on 21. Both players return to the court and will co-captain the Australia Gold team.

On the men’s side France, Portugal and Australia are likely to be the main protagonists as the medallists from 2017.

France overcame Portugal in the 2017 final to grab the world title.  Australia left with bronze.

Basketball schedule: https://gg2019.org/sports/basketball

Futsal

Portugal return to the field as the defending champions and world title holders and will once again rely on players such as Guilherme Silva and Joao Campelo.

Campelo was Portugal’s most valuable player during their Futsal Worlds win in 2017, scoring seven goals. Silva was just behind him on six.

The Portuguese just edged France to gold by one goal and will try again for the title in Brisbane.

Futsal schedule: https://gg2019.org/sports/futsal

Rowing and taekwondo round-off the 10 sports being contested at Brisbane 2019. Taekwondo makes its official Global Games debut after being a demonstration sport in 2015.

 

Defending tennis champions and medallists will take to the courts at the 2019 International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) Global Games in Brisbane, Australia, from 13 October.

The sport’s line-up at the Queensland Tennis Centre is expected to deliver multiple medals for hosts Australia as they go for glory on home soil.

But there will be more than a few challengers waiting to ruin the green and gold’s party.

British teenager Anna McBride upset the established order at the 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Tennis World Championships in Paris, France, when she stormed to gold in the women’s singles.

McBride, then aged just 14, beat Belgium’s double world champion Hanna Lavreyson in straight sets to take the gold.

Australia’s Kelly Wren, a multiple world title-holder and the Global Games champion, will line-up hoping to improve on her bronze from last year.

In the men’s singles, Australia have a bright hope in national legend Archie Graham.

Graham is the reigning world and Global Games champion and will surely be planning to make the most of the opportunity to win gold at home.

Great Britain’s Fabrice Higgins made it into both finals but struggled to overcome Graham in 2018 and at the last Global Games in 2015.

The women’s doubles features the powerful line-up of Australia’s Carla Lenarduzzi and Wren. The pair have not left a major Championships without a medal since they won gold in 2015.

Great Britain’s Dominic Iannotti claimed double gold in the men’s doubles and mixed doubles with Higgins and McBride in 2018.

Graham will be hoping to continue his success in the team events as well. He won gold in both 2015 and 2018 with Damien Phillips and Mitchell James, respectively. He is also grabbed the title with Lenarduzzi four years ago.

James followed-up by reaching the mixed doubles podium with Lenzarduzzi 12 months ago in Paris with silver and the duo were followed by Graham and Wren.

The tennis competition will also feature the Global Games debut of players competing in the II2 category – for athletes with a more significant impairment.

The World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games are the world’s biggest high performance sports event for athletes with intellectual impairments.

Nearly 1,000 competitors will go for gold in 10 sports in Brisbane from 12-19 October.

Results will be available at the official competition website.

Futsal competition at the 2019 International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) Global Games is set to entertain the Australian crowds in Brisbane from 12-19 October.

Following the opening ceremony on Saturday, competition will get underway at the Anna Meares Velodrome on Sunday as teams go for the title.

The World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games will also act as the World Championships, giving the event an extra sparkle.

Portugal will return to the field as the defending champions and world title holders and will once again rely on players such as Guilherme Silva and Joao Campelo.

Campelo was Portugal’s most valuable player during their World Intellectual Impairment Sport Futsal Worlds win in 2017, scoring seven goals. Silva was just behind him on six.

The Portuguese just edged France to gold two years ago by one goal and will try again for the title in Brisbane.

Morgan Lebreaud was the tournament’s top scorer with an impressive eight goals overall.

Iran were third after eliminating 2015 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games silver medallists Argentina.

Their star player Behzad Amani joined Lebreaud at the top of scorers’ list.

The World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games are the world’s biggest high performance sports event for athletes with intellectual impairments.

Nearly 1,000 competitors will go for gold in 10 sports in Brisbane from 12-19 October.

Results will be available at the official competition website.

By Giuseppe Napoli | For World Intellectual Impairment Sport

Defending world champions Portugal are hoping to add more silverware to their country’s trophy cabinet at the International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) Global Games in Brisbane, Australia, from 12-19 October.

For the team, who claimed World Intellectual Impairment Sport Futsal Worlds gold in 2017, adding the Global Games title would add to their national haul from the UEFA European football and futsal Championships and Euro Beach Soccer League from recent years.

This trophy pursuit is built on strong foundations.

João Campelo was Portugal’s top scorer during the World Championships and joint third overall. Guilherme Silva was fifth. The two athletes are ready for this new challenge and aiming to achieve new success for their country:

“Our expectations are to get there and win although we respect the other teams,” said Silva. “It is an honour to play in such an important competition, I don’t feel any pressure because of our success, we are just asked to do the best we can.”

“Expectations are high of course, we are the champions of the world and we defend the title. For this we have to make it to the final, it is the main objective. Over the years we have become used to the pressure and found various ways to deal with it,” Campelo said.

The two players have similar objectives that transcend their individual talents: “I have no expectations on a personal level. I am going to help the team achieve the best possible result” said Silva, echoed by Campelo: “I hope to be at my best, to help the team achieving the goals we set ourselves. I do not think much individually, I value more teamwork and collective achievements.”

Despite its relatively small size, Portugal has proved to be an extremely successful footballing nation that has produced some of the world’s best players.

“Portugal and the Portuguese are passionate about sport, especially football, and futsal or some sort of adapted football,” Campelo reflected. “The national futsal Championship has a big importance in the country since 1990. Perhaps this and the huge investments of the federation along with the passion made it so successful.”

Campelo believes his team’s relationship is a key element of their success: “The team is very close, we are like family on the pitch and outside. That is the main secret behind the success of our team.”

The World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games are the world’s biggest high performance sports event for athletes with intellectual impairments.

Nearly 1,000 competitors will go for gold in 10 sports in Brisbane from 12-19 October