The Bali Cup, an international invitational wheelchair basketball tournament, was held on the 28th – 30th July at the Bali Island School (formerly the Bali International School) in Sanur, Bali.

Alongside the men’s competition, which is in its fourth year of running, this year saw the new addition of a women’s competition with four teams entering from India, Thailand, Afghanistan and Indonesia.

In the women’s competition, the Afghanistan women’s national team, who were playing in their first ever overseas basketball tournament, took home gold with victory over Thailand in the final. India comfortably won the bronze medal over hosts Indonesia, who are still at the beginning of their wheelchair basketball development programme under Australian coach Gerry Hewson.

Tournament Director, Rodney Holt, said, “This was Afghanistan women’s first overseas tournament and they quickly become the crowd favourites with their cheerfulness, passion and skills. They presented a personal face to a country that most of us know just from the news, and unfortunately news which is mostly negative. They were great ambassadors for their country.”

In the men’s competition, after falling short in the 2016 Bali Cup, the Thailand U23 men’s team bounced back to win this years’ Championship, although they were pushed right to the wire by the French club JDA (a mixed team), winning the final by just four points. In the bronze medal game, it was India’s men who triumphed over Indonesia.

The bronze medals won by India in both competitions was also the national teams first ever silverware.

Results

First Women’s Bali Cup

Gold: Afghanistan

Silver: Thailand

Bronze: India

Fourth Men’s Bali Cup

Gold: Thailand U23

Silver: JDA (Dijon, France)

Bronze: India

MVP 

  • Women – Somaya Noor – AFG
  • Men – Siriporom Pongsakorn – THA

Top Scorers 

  • Women – Mulrah Rahimi – AFG
  • Men – Marianne Buso – JDA (Dijon, France)

All Star Five

Women 

  • Patel Kartiki Jaghishabi (2.0, IND)
  • Nilofar (4.0, AFG)
  • Nadia Paigham (2.0, AFG)
  • Nettporn Singkahn (3.0, THA)
  • Kamsanthi Asiz (3.0, INA)

Men 

  • Sebastien Verion (2.5, JDA)
  • Wayan Damai (1.0, INA)
  • Mogkol Tonsaard (4.0, THA)
  • Damien Lordel (4.0, JDA)
  • Prem Ale  (2.0 IND)