The IBSA’s World Games 2011

You may wonder what was so particular about the IBSA World Games 2011 for us to dedicate an entire section of our website to this edition. The IBSA World Games that year took place in Antalya, Turkey. Therefore, we will tell you a thing or two about the Turkish regional committee for blind and partially sighted athletes, as well as their involvement in the federation. We will also provide you with a list of all the different sports that were presented throughout the IBSA World Games 2011. Also, we will finish on an introduction to the different medals won during the competition, before going in-depth through another one of our articles.

The host country

For the IBSA World Games 2011 were hosted in Antalya, Turkey! All the athletes flew to the Turkey to compete at the highest level. After several rounds throughout the year part taking in regional championships, this was the ultimate round for all the athletes to go after the title. The Turkish Blind Sport Federation was the main organization that took care of hosting the event offering a mind blowing full sport’s program. The IBSA World Games 2011 lasted from the first of April to the tenth of April 2011. The ten days were filled with different stages of qualifications for the different participants. The opening and closing ceremony were similar to Olympics ceremonies, praising the performances of blind and partially sighted athletes.

The World Games sports

As you may already know, the sports added to the program were Paralympic sports such as five-a-side football, Judo and GoalBall! However, due to the large general interest in other sports, the IBSA federation added a few more sports to the main event. Indeed, athletes were able to part take in the following sports, on top of the traditional and initial Paralympic sports: athletics, swimming, powerlifting, chess and Futsal B1/B2 and B3. The most followed sports worldwide were the following: powerlifting, judo, football, swimming, Goalball and athletics.

The medals

After four rounds of qualifications in the Goalball tournament, which was the most followed sport during the IBSA World Games, we were able to see results. Indeed, the athletes of the following countries have gone head-to-head to shine throughout the competition: Finalnd, Turkey, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Algeria, USA, Spain, Slovenia, Brazil, Hungary, Australia, Thailand, Japan and Iraq. The first four winners managed to qualify for the Paralympics 2012. The first three also managed to win a medal on top of that priceless qualification. The top four countries are the following: the gold medal went to Finland, the silver medal went to Turkey, the bronze medal went to Canada and the fourth place went to Belgium.