Queensland athletes from the Australian Global Games Team honoured at Parliament house in Brisbane

The Hon­ourable Pre­mier of Queens­land, Anas­ta­sia Palaszczuk and Min­is­ter for Sport Mick de Bren­ni pre­sent­ed Queensland’s Aus­tralian ath­letes com­pet­ing at the INAS Glob­al Games with a State Ath­lete Bonus Grant at Par­lia­ment House on Wednesday.

Each of the 43 Queens­land ath­letes received a Grant of $2700 to pay their entry fee for the Games which will be held in Bris­bane in just eight weeks’ time.

The Pre­mier said, ​“We want to ensure our local team mem­bers have the best chance of going for gold against the world’s best. And Queens­land has a proven track record with inclu­sive games. The Gold Coast Com­mon­wealth Games was the largest sport­ing event to inte­grate para-sports.”

The Pre­mier added, ​“We’re build­ing on that suc­cess with the INAS Glob­al Games. And because dis­abil­i­ty should nev­er be a bar­ri­er to com­pet­ing at the high­est lev­el, my Gov­ern­ment is also con­tribut­ing $875,000 in cash sup­port and $175,000 in in-kind sup­port,” added the Premier.

Min­is­ter de Bren­ni agreed say­ing, ​“It’s also impor­tant that there is equal­i­ty in sport for all Queens­lan­ders, includ­ing those with any kind of disability.”

The Pre­mier also had the priv­i­lege of announc­ing that a Queens­lan­der, Archie Gra­ham, would be co-cap­tain of the Aus­tralian team.

“After only pick­ing up a rac­quet 10 years ago, Archie, an Ipswich local, is a four-time Ten­nis World Cham­pi­on and two-time win­ner of Ten­nis Australia’s Most Out­stand­ing Ath­lete with a dis­abil­i­ty,” the Pre­mier said.

She con­grat­u­lat­ed Archie say­ing, ​“we know you will lead the 2019INAS Aus­tralian team well.”

Archie respond­ed say­ing ​“It is so excit­ing to not only rep­re­sent my coun­try, but the hon­our of being cap­tain is quite unbelievable.

The Full Aus­tralian team of 226, with 169 ath­letes and 57 offi­cials, was also announced by Sport Inclu­sion Australia.