Solo 2022 ASEAN Para Games - Broadcast Opening Sequence

Описание: Copyright (c) 2022 ASEAN Para Sports Federation

The ASEAN Para Games, which involves 11 countries across the region, are considered to be a twin event of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games but caters to disabled athletes.

Its beginnings came in May 2000, when delegates from countries in Southeast Asia attending the Malaysian Paralympiad in Kuala Lumpur had a meeting and agreed to establish a disabled sport organization. The ASEAN Para Games was conceptualized by Zainal Abu Zarin, the founding president of the Malaysian Paralympic Council. The proposed rationale was that a regional para-sports event would be held after the SEA Games, and to help promote friendship and solidarity among persons with disabilities in the ASEAN region and to rehabilitate and integrate persons with disability into mainstream society.

All 10 countries of the SEAGF were the founding members of the then-proposed ASEAN Para Sports Federation; these countries agreed to hold the Games biennially on 28 April 2001, and the APSF was formed on 23 October with Pisal Wattanawongkiri, president of Thailand's Paralympic Committee, being elected as its first president. That same year from 26 to 29 October, the inaugural ASEAN Para Games took place at Kuala Lumpur, just over a month on after the closure of the SEA Games.

The 11th edition of ASEAN Para Games were hosted by Indonesia, being held at Surakarta (known colloquially as Solo) from 30 July to 6 August 2022. This was the very first edition to be staged since the COVID-19 pandemic began, given that its 10th edition – which would've been held in the Philippines – was cancelled as a result of this health crisis.

At first, the Games were originally timetabled to be hosted by Vietnam in 2021 following the SEA Games that year, only to have the country back out from staging them outright due to the pandemic, just before its hosting rights were transferred to Indonesia in January 2022. But however, there's a little catch, as the games' hosting rights were not immediately awarded due to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctions being imposed on the country at the time. The Games was only formally awarded to Indonesia on 16 February 2022, just after the sanctions were lifted.

Around 1,248 para-athletes from 11 nations across the region had participated in these Surakarta Para Games, which features 455 events and disciplines in 14 para sports. CP football (7-a-side), para cycling, sitting volleyball, and wheelchair basketball were proposed but were not added to the calendar due to "economic reasons and difficulties in preparing venues and facilities," but when Indonesia was named new host, all - but para cycling - were proposed to be held again.

The Indonesian hosts have come out dominant throughout the Para Games, having harvested 426 medals, including a haul of 175 golds, to finish on top ahead of Thailand (117) and Vietnam (65).