Great Britain Takes Gold as Arafura Games End

On the final day of competition on 17 May at the 2009 Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia, Great Britain claimed their win in Football 7-a-Side against the host country.

With the final score at 2-0, the enthusiastic cheers from the audience proved that their long flight to Australia was worth the trouble. Goals were scored from Great Britain’s Michael Wilson and Richard Fox. The bronze medal game earlier in the day between Korea and Japan saw Korea win, also 2-0.

In the Men’s Powerlifting competition, Mohammed Khamiss Khalaf from the United Arab Emirates took the first position with a formula score of 195.42. Coming in second position was Darren Gardiner from Australia with a score of 180.37. In the Women’s competition, Tzu Hui Lin from Chinese Taipei took first with 114.51, followed by compatriot Ya Hsuan Lin with 78.42. The scores are calculated according to the so-called A.H. Formula. This means that the bodyweight of each athlete is equated to a coefficient that in turn is multiplied against their best result.

In the Women’s Open Singles Wheelchair Tennis competition, Jacqueline Courtier defeated Janel Manns, and Tiffney Perry defeated Narelle Henderson. In the Men’s competition, Michael Dobbie (AUS) defeated Richard Engles, and Kent McKelvie defeated Benjamin Baker.

The Arafura Games took place from 9-17 May, and saw a total of 367 athletes with a disability from 30 different countries among the over 3,000 participants. The athletes competed in eight Paralympic sports, including Athletics, Swimming, Powerlifting, Cycling (Road), Football 7-a-Side, Shooting, Table Tennis and Wheelchair Tennis.

The event was held in partnership with the Oceania Paralympic Committee and the Australian Paralympic Committee, and incorporated athletes with a disability in the Oceania Paralympic Championships. The Oceania Paralympic Championships were open to eligible athletes with a disability from all countries around the world.

The Arafura Games is a leading international sporting competition for emerging champions of the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Since 1991, Arafura Games has been held every two years in the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, Darwin.