The Arafura games multi-sport event is hosted in Darwin Australia, bringing together sports people from the Oceania region. It is one of the few sporting events in the world where both disabled and able athletes competed in the same program.

This event has been held after approximately every two years. Arafura is the sea that flows between Northern Australia and South East Asia, which is why the name of the event is Arafura Games. It’s a one-week long event and athletes from all around the world participate in the wonderful city of Darwin.

There are a number of sports played in the Arafura Games such as, Basketball, Shooting, Football, Boxing, Cricket, Table Tennis and many more.

The Arafura Games were started in the year 1991 with basketball the only sport played. The event grew to over 30 plus sports played by thousands of athletes. In 2005 for the time athletes with disabilities were also included in the events. The last edition of the Arafura Games was held in 2011, but it is making a comeback in 2019.

The Next Arafura Games

The Arafura Games was due to be held in 2013, but was canceled because the new government decided it was too expensive to run. In 2014 the NT government announced that the event would never return, but now it listed as returning in 2019, to be held from 27 April to 4 May 2019.

Fifteen sports were chosen for the 2019 Games including, Athletics, Table Tennis, Boxing, Football (Soccer), Badminton, Swimming, Archery, Tennis, Muay Thai, Sailing, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Basketball, Hockey and Netball. Further discussions with Dragon Boating and Sepak Takraw will be undertaken regarding their inclusion as exhibition sports.