Stamp Collector Meets Stamp Designer!

“Jetski Runabout Endurance Open” at 2nd Asian Beach Games

One of the 3 mascots of the 2nd Asian Beach Games, Al-Jebel, who is an Arabian Tahr, jet-skiing!  On the rather long walk to the jetski area at Al Musannah Sports City in Oman.

Jetski Sport – “Athletes in this extreme water sport compete in racing or freestyle events on personal water craft.  Judged for speed, skill, agility and riding ability this sport is competed around the globe.”

Like the 1st Asian Beach Games in Bali, there were 4 four categories of racing: Ski Open, Runabout Open, Runabout 800 Superstock, and Endurance.  The wife and I had the opportunity to watch the 2nd event of Jetski “Runabout Endurance Open” at “Final Motor 2” area of Al Musannah Sports City.

In the jetski races of Muscat’s Beach Games, there were 45 jetski riders from Thailand, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, China, Indonesia, The United Arab Emirates, and the host country, Oman.

The cool thing about watching the Endurance Open is that this event saw the fastest speeds!

Check out this report on all jetski events at the 2nd Asian Beach Games!

Although this looks like a very close call, there were no injuries reported for any of the jet-ski events during the 2nd Asian Beach Games!

Here’s a 2-minute video clip I recorded to give you an idea of the speed and excitement of this thrilling sport!

This competitor,  Aero Sutan Aswar from Indonesia, ended up winning the Endurance Open!

There were plenty of professional photographers on hand at the Beach Games! Check out those cameras! WOW!

Here is the gold medalist of the Jetski Runabout Endurance Open, Aero Sutan Aswar from Indonesia.  At only 16 years of age, he is the youngest to win a jetski gold medal in the Asian Beach Games! Read more about his win (with great pics) here!

Womens Beach Volleyball Gold Medal Match at 2nd Asian Beach Games

China was devastating the Thai team in the 2nd match. If you don’t believe me, just check out the scoreboard in the pic above!  Then suddenly…out came the “dancing girls” during a break.  (Here’s the video my wife took of them dancing to the official song/theme of the 2nd ABG: “Together We Shine”.  I was buying stamps…story for later, ha!ha!)  Hmm…Anyone else find this somewhat odd? (That there was such provocative dancing, I mean…not that I was buying stamps, ha!ha!)

I missed most of this match but my wife stayed for the entire thing.  China ended up winning by a long shot!  Here’s a video of the last 3 minutes of this gold medal match!

Dec. 16th was a day of medals and the closing ceremony.  It was a great day to be at Musannah Sports City!

Womens Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Match at 2nd Asian Beach Games

The Bronze Medal Match in Womens Beach Volleyball for the 2nd Asian Beach Games was between Thailand and China.

It was quite a close match!

Thailand ended up beating China.

These obnoxious western spectators thought they were “the cat’s meow”.  It reminds me of that classic Right Said Fred song, “I’m too sexy for my shirt. Too sexy for my shirt.  So sexy it hurts!” ha!ha!

My wife LOVES volleyball!

The players seemed to have a secret system of informing  which kind of serve they thought their partner should deliver.

Oman Wins Mens Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Match at 2nd Asian Beach Games!

This is “Al-Reeh”, one of the three 2nd Asian Beach Games mascots.  It is a rare desert bird called the Houbara Bustard and this is its serving pose.

We watched the Men Bronze Medal Match for Beach Volleyball between Oman and Brunei on Dec. 16th at 10am at Al Musannah Sports City.

It was not a close game at all.  The Omani athletes, Haitham and Ahmed, dominated the match from beginning to end!

The fans were really encouraging the hometeam!  🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These same players, Ahmed Khadoom Al Hosni and Haitham Kulham Al Shuraiki, are two-time champions in Arab Beach Volleyball.

From the “Muscat 2010 Promotion Brochure III”: “Making its Summer Olympic debut in Atlanta 1996, beach volleyball has been a popular sport since the 1920s.  Originally played to give bored surfers something to do when the surf was down, the game quickly grew in recognition and is now a regular sight on some of the most famous beaches in the world.”

You can almost feel the effort being exerted by Ahmed Al Housni here!

Haitham Al Shereiqi looks on while his partner battles it out at the net!

One of the athletes from Brunei took at least 2 big falls during the match.  This second fall took too much out of him and he wasn’t able to keep playing, thereby losing the match for his team and guaranteeing the victory for Oman!

He must have really hurt himself as he was lying there for quite a few minutes before the officials declared the match over.  There really was no point in going on though as the Omani team had already won the first set (by a long shot) and were close to winning the 2nd set anyway.

A very sad way for any athlete to leave the battlefield I can only imagine.

Ahmed showing some love and gratitude to the fans!

It was cool to attend one of the matches in which Oman got a medal!  🙂  Oman did far better than anyone could have imagined!  Oman came in 3rd place with 15 medals (5 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze)!  Thailand was 1st with 36 medals (15 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze).  China came in 2nd, earning 12 gold, 6 silver and 5  bronze for a total of 26 medals.     “Mubaruk!” to all Omani athletes and to all Beach Games organizers and volunteers!  🙂  The Games were a smashing success!