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IPC activities
IPC announce 2015 Paralympic Scientific
Twenty one candidates qualify as VI
Professor Jennifer Mactavish is to receive the IPC’s
classifiers
2015 Paralympic Scientific Award in recognition of
Award winner
the role she played in the re-inclusion of athletes
with an intellectual impairment into the Paralympic
programme. The Canadian who is the Dean of the
Yeates School of Graduate Studies at Ryerson
University, Canada, will receive her honour at the
VISTA 2015 Conference in Girona, Spain, which
runs from 7-10 October.

More on Jennifer Mactavish
Maksym Nikolenko named March’s Allianz
Athlete of the Month
The number of people able to classify athletes with
a visual impairment (VI) on an international level for
the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and
the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA)
grew by 50 per cent with 21 candidates
successfully passing a VI-classifier training course
in Athens, Greece.

More on the VI classifiers
Ukraine's world No.1 para-table tennis player
Maksym Nikolenko has been voted the Allianz
Issue: 1 - 10 April 2015
1
Athlete of the Month for March 2015 after winning
two gold medals at the Lignano Masters.

Find out more about Maksym Nikolenko
NPCs
Australia to benefit from significant
broadcast coverage of Rio 2016
Margo Mountjoy to speak about youth
The Seven Network, Australia’s most-watched
athlete development at VISTA 2015
broadcast
television
platform,
confirmed
the
The IPC announced that Margo Mountjoy of the
signing of an agreement for an all-encompassing
Faculty of Family Medicine, McMaster University in
coverage of the forthcoming Rio 2016 Paralympic
Canada, has been added to the list of world class
Games.
speakers for October’s VISTA 2015 conference in
Girona, Spain.
Seven’s agreement with the Australian Paralympic
This year’s VISTA theme is “securing the future of
subscription television rights, and expands beyond
young para-athletes” and Mountjoy, who is a
television to Seven’s digital platforms, including
member of the IOC Medical Commission Games
online and Hybrid Broadband Broadcast Television.
Committee delivers free broadcast television and
Group, will present on “Youth Athlete Development:

Recommendations from the IOC”.

More
on
Channel
Seven’s
broadcast
commitments
More on Margo Mountjoy
Paralympic champion Edith Wolf-Hunkeler
IGF, ISAF visit IPC Headquarters
Anthony Scanlon, CEO of the International Golf
retires
Federation (IGF), and Aurelia Tacchini, Project
Manager, visited the IPC Headquarters in Bonn to
meet with IPC CEO Xavier Gonzalez and discuss the
possibility
of becoming an
“IPC recognised
International Sports Federation.”
The
President
of
the
International
Sailing
Federation (ISAF) Carlo Croce and the Vice
President Scott Perry, also visited the IPC HQ to
discuss strategies for the re-inclusion of sailing into
future Paralympic Games.
The
Swiss
Wheelchair
Sport
Federation
(Rollstuhlsport Schweiz, RSS) announced that
Edith Wolf-Hunkeler, one of the country’s most
successful para-athletes, has retired due to health
problems.
10 April 2015
2
Since 1998, the 42-year-old T54 wheelchair racer
the next two years to support more people with an
has participated in three Paralympic Games and
impairment to be active for life.
four World Championships. During this time she
won an impressive eight Paralympic Games and 15
world championships medals.


More on Sport England’s funding
NPC Germany extends partnership with
More on Edith Wolf-Hunkeler’s retirement
Deutsche Telekom, signs BP as new partner
NPC Germany has announced the extension of the
Belgium and Portugal appoint Rio 2016 Chef
partnership with Deutsche Telekom as National
de Mission
Supporter until 2016. This means that the Top
The Belgian Paralympic Committee has appointed
Team programme which supports Paralympic
Olek Kazimirowski as its new Sport and NPC Team
athletes will also be continued.
Manager and the Chef de Mission for the Rio 2016
Paralympic Games.
Germany, bringing to nine the number of NPCs
NPC Portugal has appointed Rui Oliveira as their
Chef de Mission for the Rio 2016 Paralympic
Games. Oliveira – Secretary General of NPC
Portugal – has extensive experience working in
sport for many years, including sport for people
with an impairment.


Furthermore, BP has signed up to sponsor NPC
supported by the IPC’s International Partner.

More on Deutsche Telekom

More on BP
US and Canada name Toronto 2015
swimming teams
More on Olek Kazimirowski
More on Rui Oliveira
Varazdin, Croatia, to stage the European
Para Youth Games 2015 this July
The European Para Youth Games 2015 will be held
in
Varazdin,
Croatia,
between
16-19
July.
Organised by the Croatian Paralympic Committee,
it will five different sports - athletics, boccia,
swimming, table tennis and sitting volleyball - for
athletes with an impairment.

More on the European Para Youth Games
Sport England backs sport for people with
an impairment
Sport England is to invest GBP 2,319,000 in the
English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) over
10 April 2015
Twenty athletes were announced on 3 April by US
Paralympics to the US swimming team roster for
the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games from
7-15 August. With 13 female and seven male
swimmers, the US roster is highlighted by five
Paralympians
competed
at
and
past
four
IPC
athletes
who
Swimming
have
World
Championships.
3
Swimming Canada nominated forty swimmers,
Worlds level after securing her place on the team
including a host of Paralympians, for selection for
for her fourth World Championships.
Toronto 2015 on 23 March.


On 30 March, US Paralympics announced the team
More on the US Toronto 2015 swimming
to compete at Glasgow 2015, which will be made
team
up of 25 swimmers.
More on Canada’s Toronto 2015 swim team
Sport for All in Iran
Sport for All has always been considered as one of
the main strategies of NPC Iran, aiming to enhance

More on the British swim team

More on the US World Championships team
Ugandan para-rowers aim for Rio
the social integration and health improvement of
people with impairments throughout the country. In
line with such strategy, the Sport for All Committee
has been established in I.R. Iran Sports Federation
for the Disabled with the motto of "Social
Participation, Fun and Empowerment ".

More on Iran’s Sport of All initiative
Great Britain and USA name teams for
Enhancing lives and ability beyond disability
Glasgow 2015
through para-rowing and producing para-rowers to
compete and win at the highest levels is the dual
vision of the Ugandan Para Rowing Federation
(UPRF) and the dream of Noah Sewankambo,
UPRF president and head coach.

More on the Uganda para-rowing team
APC Chief Executive stands down
Jason Hellwig has announced he is stepping down
as Chief Executive of the Australian Paralympic
Committee (APC).
An 18-strong British contingent has been named to
face the rest of the world at their home IPC
Swimming World Championships from 13-19 July in
Glasgow, Great Britain. Four-time Paralympic
Champion Ellie Simmonds will be returning to the
10 April 2015
APC President Glenn Tasker has acknowledged the
significant contribution Hellwig has made during
his time with the organisation.

More on Jason Hellwig resigning
4
Paralympic Movement mourns passing of
football World Championships in Great Britain by
Australian shooter
going unbeaten at the 2015 Footie 7 International
The IPC has joined the Australian Paralympic
Tournament in Portugal from 22-27 March.
Committee in mourning the loss of Australia’s fivetime Paralympic shooter Ashley Adams in a tragic
motorcycle accident on 17 March.

More on Ashley Adams

More on the International Tournament
New world records set in Glasgow and
Eindhoven, Can Ams conclude with series of
Americas records
Great Britain’s Bethany Firth and Hannah Russell
International Federations
lowered the world records in their respective
classes in the 100m backstroke on 28 March on
the penultimate day of the British Para-Swimming
South Korea win gold, Slovakia clinch
bronze in Ostersund
International Meet in Glasgow, Great Britain.
An incredible six world records were set across five
days by Dutch swimmers between 2-5 April at the
Swim Cup Eindhoven, in the Netherlands.
A series of US swimmers wrote their names into the
record books at the 2015 Speedo Can Am ParaSwimming
Championships
on
21-22
March,
earning Americas records in the pool that will host
the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto,
Canada.
South Korea, the host nation of the next Paralympic
Winter Games, struck gold on 21 March at the IPC
Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool by
beating Sweden, 4-2, to finish the round-robin
tournament with a perfect record of 5-0.

More on the IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World
Championships B-Pool

More on the British Para-Swimming
International Meet

More on the Can-Am Para-Swimming
Championships

More on the Swim Cup Eindhoven
Ukraine shines at Para Table Tennis Lignano
Master Open 2015
Ukraine’s para-table tennis players won six gold
Ukraine show form ahead of football 7 World
medals to top the medals table at the Lignano
Championships
Master Open 2015 in Lignano, Italy, from 17 to 22
European champions Ukraine underlined their
March. Maksym Nikolenko won the gold medal in
credentials as the team to beat at June’s 7-a-side
the men’s singles class 7 while his teammate Viktor
10 April 2015
5
Didukh beat Poland’s Piotr Grudzien to take gold in
IPC Athletics and financial services provider Allianz
the men’s singles class 8.
SE have extended their partnership agreement until

More on Ukraine’s success at the Lignano
Master Open 2015
Great Britain dominate Boccia European
Continental Cup
the end of 2016 and will also sponsor a number of
major upcoming events, including October’s World
Championships.

More on the IPC Athletics – Allianz
agreement
Media accreditation for the 2015 IPC
Powerlifting Americas Open Championships
now open
Media are advised that accreditation for the 2015
IPC Powerlifting Americas Open Championships in
Mexico
City
is
now
open
at
http://www.paralympic.org/mexico-city2015/media.
Great Britain’s players dominated the Boccia

More on Mexico City 2015
European Continental Cup in Sant Cugat del Valles,
Kovalchuk victorious at season opening
Spain, from 1-4 April, winning seven medals,
World Cup
including four golds.

More on the Boccia European Continental
Cup
Allianz and IPC Athletics extend global
partnership until end of 2016
Ukraine’s Vasyl Kovalchuk secured victory over
Finnish world champion Minna Leinonen on 1 April,
in a nail-biting conclusion to the 2015 IPC Shooting
World Cup in Stoke Mandeville, Great Britain.
Kovalchuk won R5 (mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2)
gold after the elimination rounds showed just how
10 April 2015
6
closely matched the field is in the year before Rio
USA’s wheelchair basketballers show form
2016.
ahead of Parapans

More on the IPC Shooting World Cup
The USA men’s wheelchair basketball team showed
they will be a force to be reckoned with at August’s
Jeremiasz, Ellerbrock and Wagner win Cajun
Parapan American Games by going undefeated at
Classic
the Americas Wheelchair Basketball Challenge
which was held in Toronto, Canada, from 22-26
March. The tournament featured four teams
including Paralympic champions Canada, Rio 2016
hosts Brazil, USA and Argentina.

More
on
the
Americas
Wheelchair
Basketball Challenge
IWRF expands the Wheelchair rugby family
As part of its new Strategic Plan, the IWRF has
committed to work with variants of the sport of
wheelchair rugby, with the aim of bringing them
France’s Michael Jeremiasz and Germany’s Sabine
Ellerbrock completed the Cajun Classic, part of the
UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, with singles and
doubles titles on 29 March in Baton Rouge, USA,
with Jeremiasz ending a memorable week with his
under IWRF governance.

More on IWRF’s expansion
Norbruis earns third world title in front of
Dutch crowd
first singles title since May 2013.

More on the Cajun Classic
IBSA World Games goalball schedule
released
The schedule for the goalball competition at the
upcoming 2015 IBSA World Games in Seoul, South
Korea, has been released.

More on the IBSA World Games goalball
schedule
Dutch para-cyclist Alyda Norbruis stole the show
yet again on 30 March, in Apeldoorn, the
Netherlands, with her third victory at the UCI Paracycling Track World Championships. Great Britain
men’s and women’s tandem teams also rocketed
10 April 2015
7
the London 2012 hosts to the top of the final
Furthermore, the first IPC Athletics Education
standings.
programme to be run in Spanish took place in

More on the 2015 UCI Para-cycling Track
World Championships
Ecuador at the end of March with 30 individuals
receiving key training in officiating.

Paralympic champions USA beat Canada
More on the IPC Athletics education
programme in Tunisia
2-0

More on the IPC Athletics education
programme in Ecuador
Algeria aim to organise biggest ever IBSA
Goalball African Championships
NPC Algeria released an official invitation for teams
to
join
the
2015
IBSA
Goalball
African
Championships which will take place in Algiers from
20-30 November. The event is an opportunity for
the top performing men’s and women’s side to
qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Declan Farmer and Brody Roybal each recorded a
More
on
the
IBSA
Goalball
African
Championships
goal and an assist and Steve Cash made eight saves
FEI’s inaugural para-equestrian forum
to lead the US National Sledge Hockey Team to a
celebrates para-sport future
2-0 victory over Canada on 28 March at Extreme
Ice Centre in Indian Trail, North Carolina, USA, and
a sweep of three-game series. The US won the
series opener, 2-0, on 26 March and earned a 3-1
victory on 27 March.

More on the three-game series
Athletics education programmes gather
pace
IPC Athletics’ education programmes continued
from 17-22 March alongside the backdrop of the
Paralympic athletes and experts from 22 countries
IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Tunis, Tunisia - the first
were welcomed to the FEI’s first para-equestrian
time the programme has taken place in the North
forum on 21-22 March in Essen, Germany.
African country.
10 April 2015
8
The two-day event gave delegates the opportunity
Overall biathlon and cross-country skiing
to engage in the future direction of para-equestrian
World Cup titles decided
dressage, and discuss the wider backdrop of para-
Wins for Germany’s Anja Wicker and Ukraine’s
equestrian sport.
Oleksandra Kononova in middle distance biathlon

races in Surnadal, Norway, on 22 March, the final
More on the Doha 2015 logo
day of the 2014/2015 IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup
Ktila completes four wins from four races in
season, secured them both overall end-of-season
Tunis
titles.

More on the biathlon and cross-country
skiing World cup titles
Othman obliterates world record three times
in Dubai
Multiple Paralympic and world champion Walid
Ktila rounded off his winning week on home soil
with victory in the 400m T33/34 on 25 March, the
third and final day of competition at the IPC
Athletics Grand Prix in Tunis, Tunisia, which
doubles as the 9th Tunis International Meeting.

More on the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in
Tunis
international competition since moving up to the
men’s -59kg weight class, smashed the world
Wheelchair fencing holds meeting with the
International Fencing Federation (FIE)
As part of the continued efforts of IWAS Wheelchair
Fencing (IWF) to grow wheelchair fencing and its
relationship
Egypt’s Sherif Othman, competing in his first major
with
the
International
record three times at the 6th FAZZA IPC
Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai, UAE, taking place
from 15-18 March.

More on Othman’s world record
Fencing
Federation (FIE), a joint meeting was held in
February 2015 in Frankfurt, Germany.

More on the IWAS FIE meeting
10 April 2015
9
Organising Committees
Toronto 2015
events, six Paralympic events, and four events
which will include both Olympic and Paralympic
tests. Over 7,800 athletes will get a taste of the host
city and around 16,000 volunteers will participate
Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games
in the test events, which will take place across 156
tickets on-sale
days of competition in total.
Sports fans are now able to buy their tickets for the
TORONTO 2015 Parapan American Games and
catch the best para-athletes compete for a medal
and the chance to represent their country at the Rio
2016 Paralympic Games.

More on the TO2015 ticket sales

More on the Rio 2016 test event calendar
PyeongChang 2018
Samsung Group and Korea Air become
sponsors of PyeongChang 2018
Search launched for Toronto 2015 Parapan
American Games torchbearers
POCOG has signed an official local sponsorship
Canadian Paralympic swimming champion Chelsey
agreement with Samsung Group, who has agreed to
Gotell has launched the Toronto 2015 Parapan
support POCOG with a sponsor package valued at
American Games torchbearer contest which invites
KRW 100 billion to officially become a domestic
Canadians to be torchbearers in the relay which is
partner working in various business areas across
presented by President’s Choice® and OLG.
the Samsung group.

More on the TO2015 Torch Relay
Rio 2016
Rio 2016 reveals calendar for 44 Olympic
Just some days prior, POCOG has signed an official
partnership agreement with Korean Air in a
ceremony held at the Lakai Sandpine Resort in
Gangneung.
and Paralympic test events

More on the Samsung partnership
Rio 2016 has announced the calendar for 44

More on the Korean Air partnership
further test events to be held in preparation for the
Games. The programme will involve 34 Olympic test
10 April 2015
10
KOICA signs MOU offering support for
Commission. The commission will provide the
PyeongChang 2018
organising committee with crucial insights and
of
assist it in its preparations to host an inspiring
Understanding (MOU) for Games support with the
Culture and Education Programme that will enthuse
Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA).
athletes and media as well as the Olympic and
POCOG

has
signed
a
Memorandum
More on the MOU with KOICA
Paralympic Family, spectators and all other
stakeholders.
Tokyo 2020

More
on
Tokyo
2020’s
Culture
and
Education Commission
Tokyo 2020 adds ASICS, Nomura and JX
Nippon Oil & Energy as Gold Partners
Agitos Foundation
Wheelchair basketball emerges in Uganda
The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee has
welcomed ASICS Corporation (ASICS), Nomura and
JX Nippon Oil & Energy as Tokyo 2020 Gold
Partners, in the categories “Sporting Goods"
(Sports Apparel & Sports Equipment), “Security”
and “Oil, Gas & Electricity supply services”
respectively.
Funding received from the Chinese Lions Club has
helped with the introduction of the Uganda
Paralympic
Sports
Development
Project,
an
initiative that has led to wheelchair basketball
becoming one of the fastest growing para-sports in

More on ASICS’s involvement
the country. The support, which was made

More on Nomura’s involvement
available through the Agitos Foundation in August

More
on
JX
Nippon
Oil
&
Energy
involvement
Tokyo 2020 announce Culture and
Education Commission members
Tokyo 2020 announced the appointment of the
members of the Tokyo 2020 Culture and Education
10 April 2015
2013, has helped the Uganda National Paralympic
Committee to develop their capacity and leadership
and has led to the establishment of the Uganda
Wheelchair Basketball Association.

More on Uganda’s wheelchair basketball
team
11
Winter sports boosted in south east Europe
Development camps supported through the Agitos
Foundation’s Grant Support Programme (GSP)
have led to the first IPC Alpine Skiing races in
Upcoming events

Bulgaria and Romania, promoting cross cultural
Division
B

South Africa Wheelchair Tennis Open
(Super Series) ( Johannesburg, RSA) - 1418 April
More on winter sports in south east Europe
Colombia bounces back


Colombia, the country’s NPC is developing its pool

IPC Athletics Grand Prix (Beijing, China) 18-20 April

ISAF Sailing World Cup (Hyeres, France) 20-26 April
peace building and reintegration of victims through
sport.
IPC Shooting World Cup (Szczecin, Poland)
- 17-21 April
of talent with help from the Agitos Foundation in
some of the most affected areas, as a strategy of
IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport Kazakhstan
Open (Astana, Kazakhstan) - 16-19 April
After more than half a century of armed conflict in

European
Czech Republic) – 11-19 April
relationships in south east Europe.

2015
Championship (wheelchair rugby) Prague,
Serbia and the involvement of a raft of young skiers
from Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
IWRF

IPC Athletics Grand Prix (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
- 23-25 April
More on Colombia’s efforts

IPC
Ice
Sledge
Hockey
World
Championships A-Pool (Buffalo, USA) – 26
April - 3 May
Other News

World

Paralympic Sport Science and Sport
leading
specialists
and
practitioners from across the UK came together for
Medicine Conference from 12-13 March to share
knowledge and experience from the fields of sport
science and sport medicine, in order to support the

Great
IPC
Powerlifting
Open
Americas
29 April

Boccia
Americas
Team
&
Pair
Championships (Montreal, Canada) – 29
a two day Paralympic, Sport Science and Sport
preparations of ParalympicsGB at Rio 2016.
(London,
Championships (Mexico City, Mexico) - 26-
Medicine Conference
200
Championships
Britain) - 26 April
Preparations for Rio continue at UK
Approximately
London Marathon/IPC Athletics Marathon
April - 4 May

IWAS
Wheelchair
Fencing World
Cup
(Montreal, Canada) - 1-3 May

Rheinsberg
(wheelchair
More on the Conference
Rollstuhltanzfestival
dance
sport)
(Rheinsberg,
Germany) - 1-5 May

12th Slovenia Open para table tennis
(Lasko, Slovenia) - 5-10 May
10 April 2015
12

IBSA World Games (judo, football 5-a-side
and goalball) (Seoul, South Korea) - 8-18
May

Madrid ITU World Para-triathlon Event
(Madrid, Spain) - 10 May

IPC Shooting World Cup (Antalya, Turkey) 12-15 May

Japan Wheelchair Tennis Open (Super
Series) (Iizuka,Japan) - 12-17 May

Slovakia Open 2015 para table tennis
(Bratislava, Slovak Republic) - 12-17 May
IPC website
Facebook: /ParalympicGames
Twitter: @Paralympic
YouTube: ParalympicSport.TV
10 April 2015
13