Asian Beach Games excitement a damp squib
*Asian Beach Games (ongoing until October 3, 2016)
On a beach in Danang, central Vietnam it is day five of the 5th Asian Beach Games. Or according to Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre News, nearby a beach in central Vietnam you can find the event until the closing ceremony on October 3
“Instead of running along the beach, as the name of the Games suggests, athletes were made to run on an abandoned piece of land nearby, the soil of which had been mixed with sand to form a running track,” read the local news.
Tuoi Tre also questioned the lack of promotion for the Games. Quoting a local bather they blamed this for what they perceived to be a lack of spectators.
“Nguyen Van Cu, a local near My Khe Beach, said he had seen people erecting tents along the beach every afternoon when he took a dip into the ocean, but “had no clue what sports were going to be played there.”
In his blog from the opening ceremony for InsidetheGames.com Nick Butler noted highlighted another factor that could prove a dampener to attendence.
“It was a carbon copy of the opening ceremony of the last Asian Beach Games in Phuket two years ago when proceedings were briefly postponed due to a similarly destructive downpour. Holding the Beach Games outside of the Southeast Asian rainy season appears an overly novel idea”
Despite this the Games must go on and Pakistan were overjoyed to beat rivals India and claim the gold medal in the sub-continent’s traditional sport of Kabaddi.
