News

The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) has revealed that athletics, powerlifting and cerebral palsy (CP) football will form the final programme for the 2021 IWAS World Games in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal, from 7-13 October.

The confirmation comes after countries were invited to register their interest in the sports on the preliminary programme which also featured swimming, as well as wheelchair cricket and beach ParaVolley for the first IWAS Guttmann Games. 

The six countries that will compete in the Wheelchair Rugby tournament at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham in Alabama have been announced.

The United States as the host will be joined by Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and Switzerland when the sport makes its debut on The World Games programme.

Staging a major international tournament is always an exacting task; add to the fact that you have to provide a level of organisation that caters for players with impairments, wheelchair access being mandatory, then add all the paraphernalia of creating an environment that has the utmost hygienic standards to cope with the current pandemic, the word “exacting” is an understatement.

World ParaVolley has been working hard over the past number of months to put together the initial phase of E-ParaVolley, an online LMS which will offer possibilities for individuals to learn more about World ParaVolley and to embark on technical education pathways.

The program has been made possible in large part as a result of two grants from the International Paralympic Committee – one from the NPCDP-IF funding stream, and the other from the GSI COVID-19 Relief Fund stream.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that Taipei City, Chinese Taipei, will stage the 20th IPC General Assembly between 11 and 12 December 2021. Ahead of the General Assembly, the IPC Conference will take place on 9 and 10 December at the same venue and will include the 2021 Paralympic Awards. 

The ITTF Group started the TableTennisUnited Fund in 2020 to support the table tennis community worldwide through the ordeals of Covid-19. Once again we have witnessed the power of unity spreading across the Atlantic, as the Fund ensures training continues for players with disabilities in Argentina and Germany during financial droughts caused by the pandemic.

CEDIMA – Centro de Discapacitados de La Matanza

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that the 10th edition of the VISTA Conference will be organised virtually over six days in partnership with six leading Universities between 18 November and 6 December 2021.

Tokyo 2020 and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) have celebrated 100 days to go until the opening of the Paralympic Games with a special unveiling of the Agitos at TMG headquarters on Sunday (16 May).

The key milestone, a significant step on the journey towards the Games this summer, comes as thousands of Paralympic athletes worldwide ramp-up their preparations to compete across 539 different events in 22 sports from 24 August 2021.

A course designed to increase the number of national classifiers who can work with visually impaired (VI) athletes is being delivered throughout May by the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) and the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA).

Over 20 ophthalmologists and optometrists from across the region will take part in the online course which consists of four online theory sessions after which, subject to successfully completing a test, they will receive a certificate to show that they have completed part one of the course.

The IWRF is delighted to announce that the 2022 Wheelchair Rugby European Championship Division A has been awarded to France.

The European Championship will take place in Paris, 21st - 27th of February at a prestigious Parisian Sport Venue.

The European Championship Local Organising Committee is composed of members from CAPSAAA Paris Wheelchair Rugby Club, the Fédération Française Handisport and the Wheelchair Rugby French Commission.

 IWRF President Richard Allcroft said,

Top-level international para-cycling competition kick starts into action on 6-9 May with the opening round of the 2021 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in Ostend, Belgium. Another round in Marostica / Bassano del Grappa (Italy) will follow at a date to be announced.