Athletes from around the world who have excellent physical abilities, despite having some visual impairments, have gathered in Seoul. They will show off their skills over the next eight days during the Seoul 2015 International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Games.

Under the slogan of, “See with Passion, Run with Hope,” this international sporting event will be held from May 10 to 17 across 11 Korean cities, including Seoul and Incheon. Approximately 6,000 athletes from 57 countries will participate in the games, competing for medals in nine sport disciplines, including track and field, goal ball and judo.

Being held for the fifth time this year, the IBSA World Games are considered the Olympic Games for visually impaired athletes. Since the first games in 1998 in Madrid, this sporting event has been held every four years in order to boost sporting activities for athletes with visual disabilities.

This is the third time for the Korean national team to take part in the games since the IBSA World Games in Sao Paulo in 2007 and in Antalya, Turkey, in 2011.

At the opening ceremony, which took place at the Jamsil Arena on May 10, IBSA President Jannie Hammershoi said that, “The impossible became possible,” while asking all people to have an open mind with no barriers. She also added that, “Over the next couple of days, you will see amazing, high quality sporting events.”





Under the theme of, “The Heart Sees,” Korea will provide the world’s first "site commentary" broadcasting system for the athletes with visual disabilities and for the audience of the Seoul IBSA World Games.

Organizers will also provide shortwave radio receivers for the visually disabled so that they can listen to the real time commentary of the events on site.

A special voicing technology dubbed “Voiceye Code Technology” will be applied to various brochures at the games. Users can receive information from these brochures by scanning the code printed on them, thanks to the technology which delivers information contained inside the code through voice.

More information about the Seoul IBSA World Games is available at its homepage (http://www.ibsawg2015seoul.org/ko-kr) with services in both Korean and English.









By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Jeon So-hyang of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Seoul IBSA World Games Organizing Committee
arete@korea.kr