On the flight from Shanghai to the resort city of Sanya, I found myself wrestling with a bit of an internal debate. Was I really looking forward to the postcard-perfect sun, surf and sand of Hainan Island, or was I really prepared for the intensity of the first Asian Beach Games I ever covered?

As the plane banked across the bay to its landing path, the view below was, frankly, confusing. Clusters of private yachts lined up on the wharves like expensive toys, evoking the polished, untouched aura of a rich man’s playground. But that illusion of a comfortable holiday did not last for the first hour. Once I was actually on the ground, the sand slipped from beneath my feet, revealing a much harsher, more honest reality.

Sanya is often called the “Hawaii of the East”, a place where you go to relax. However, for the 31-member Indian contingent and their continental teammates at the 2026 Asian Beach Games (April 22-30), the white sands of the Phoenix Islands were no place for a holiday. If you had to sum up the entire essence of sports in one word, it would be difficult.

For beginners, beach games are often dismissed with little laughter. We associate the word “beach” with holidays, long breaks and putting our feet up. But after spending a few days watching everything from handball and water polo to beach athletics in a relentless, merciless sun, the perspective changes rapidly. It quickly became clear that sand is not just a surface; This is a test of the human spirit.

In tennis, we pay attention to the nuances of clay versus grass. Why should sand be treated differently? Scientifically speaking, running on sand requires almost twice as much energy as running on stable ground. Every step you take is met with resistance, and every step toward a longer jump or a higher jump is like playing poker against the instability of the sand.

Take aquathlon, which forces athletes to move from the fast, rhythmic pace of road running to the surging waves of the ocean. Or look at beach athletics, where Thailand’s sprint sensation Puripol Boonson, the only Southeast Asian to break the 10-second barrier in the 100m (a time of 9.94 at the 2025 SEA Games) was an absolute marvel to watch.

Even on rolled and flattened sand, his movements required a kind of cat-like precision. On synthetic tracks, you can trust the surface to give you something back, a bit of bounce to help your next move. On sand, if you dig your heels in too deep, the beach just eats up your momentum.

While scoreboards are meant to decide history, it was the raw human emotion that really defined the atmosphere in Sanya. I watched Iranian shot-put gold medalist Hassan Ajmibakhtiyarvand completely collapse. Here was a man built like a mountain, yet he collapsed on the sand after his winning throw of 20.17 metres.

Her tears weren’t actually celebratory; They were the tears of a man representing a nation in deep turmoil. I remembered the lines of the Iranian poet Ahmed Shamloo: “The mountain is not separate from the earth.” On that beach, there was Mount Ajamibakhtiyarvand, and it was carrying the emotional weight of Iran’s conflict.

In stark contrast was the pure joy of Sri Lanka’s expert Hewa Pedige. After winning the gold medal in 50kg beach wrestling, the Air Force athlete didn’t just celebrate; He put his medal around his coach’s neck and touched his feet in deep respect. In that fleeting moment, even the waves seemed to calm down. That chant of gratitude felt as grand and important as any Olympic stadium in Paris or Los Angeles.

For the Indian contingent, the sand taught us, providing lessons outside the world in which we train and compete. Under the leadership of Ritu, the women’s Kabaddi team showed everyone why they are the best. In a thrilling final against a strong Sri Lankan team, they overcame a slight half-time deficit to win 47–31 and clinch their sixth consecutive title.

“We never play on sand, so this win is really satisfying,” Ritu said after the final.

However, the story took a different turn for Brijendra Singh Chaudhary’s men’s team. Despite an impressive performance in the final, which included a crushing 50–27 win over rivals Pakistan, they came up against a strong Iranian side and ultimately lost 44–31. Brijendra’s thoughts after the match were honest and telling,

“Sometimes we take the surface for granted.”

It was a clear admission that perhaps, somewhere in his mind, he did not tolerate sand, or the Iranians’ incredible adaptability to it.

The sand pits also produced some of India’s most “dogged” individual performances. Priya (over 70kg) registered a convincing 3-2 win over Mongolia’s Zorigat, with the kind of fatigue that only sand can create on her face. Meanwhile, Pushpa Yadav (60kg) put up a strong performance against local Chinese favorite Mengyu Xie and showed determination to defeat her 3-0, leaving the home crowd speechless.

However, the most practical lesson from Sanya was much more than the final medal tally in which, for the record, hosts China topped the table with 55 medals (24 gold, 18 silver, 13 bronze), while India finished sixth with 6 medals (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze).

Watching athletes from Palestine, Iran and Lebanon compete while their home countries were literally burning was a life-booklet in resilience. Most of us feel a real increase in anxiety if our flight is delayed by an hour; These competitors live in a reality where every single ring of their phone can bring devastating, life-changing news.

On sand, winning and losing take on a completely different dimension. It works like a balm, where after the fight is over you can hug your opponent and walk away with your head held high. Isn’t it always about shared dignity, especially for people coming from fragmented lands?

Sand is our most natural, least expensive resource, and given the success we have seen in Sanya, more needs to be done with it. Imagine the Asian Beach Athletics Championships, or dedicated beach events for wrestling and boxing, becoming standalone fixtures under different national federations. The infrastructure is provided by nature.

These games proved that sports is not an escape from the difficulties of life; This is a place where you actually face them and overcome them. Be it the Qatari pair of world stars Samba Sherif and Janko Ahmed, the Asian Games champions and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists turning beach volleyball into a rock-and-roll spectacle, or an Indian wrestler digging his toes in for a final takedown, the message was clear. Sand is not any other surface. This is your ally. And it highlights your patience.

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