2007 CMAS World Games
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| Host city | Bari, Apulia |
|---|---|
| Country |  Italy |
| Events | 5 sports |
| Opening | 31 July 2007 |
| Closing | 4 August 2007 |
The 2007 CMAS World Games was the first and only edition of the CMAS World Games, an Olympic style tournament for underwater sports organised by the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) and hosted in Bari, Italy.[1]
CMAS created the event in attempt to boost popularity of underwater sports by combining the world championships of the sports under its purview into one event. However the concept ultimately failed due to discontent from the individual sports bodies as a result of being forced out of their pre-established competition calendars, which affected some sports more than others, and ultimately resulted in the 2007 event being the only one ever organised and played.
Underwater hockey
The World Underwater Hockey Commission, a group under the CMAS Sports Committee, opposed the World Games on grounds that their advice was being "consistently ignored" and that they were "ignoring our sport" and "[attacking] the democraticly elected commission".[2]
On 2 January 2007, the British Octopush Association (BOA) pledged full support to the commission opposing CMAS in the process, joining the opposition from the underwater hockey bodies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.[2]
On 19 January, following further meetings, while still overall opposed to games, the BOA release a statement saying they saw the games as "an exciting opportunity for underwater sport". They also announced while they wouldn't send an official team to the games, they wouldn't not oppose their athletes attending.[3] Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States did not send athletes to the games, while Canada and The Netherlands (like Great Britain) did not officially participate.[3]
Events
The games included events in the following sports:[4]
Venues
Numerous swimming pools in Bari would host the short course finswimming, underwater hockey, and underwater rugby events, while long course finswimming and underwater orienteering would be held in the Bari harbour basin.[1] The Riserva naturale statale Torre Guaceto was earmarked to host the underwater photography event,[1] however this ended up not being part of the World Games with a separate event taking place in Port Louis, Mauritius.[10][11]
