1. sports
2. olympics
3. paralympic games

IPC activities
IPC President speaks at UN headquarters
IPC President Sir Philip Craven, along with threetime Paralympian Dr. Cheri Blauwet, spoke at a
special event commemorating International Day of
Sport for Development and Peace on 15 April.

More on Sir Philip’s UN speech
IPC withdraws from Sport Accord
The IPC withdrew as an associate member of Sport
Accord following a speech made by its President
Marius Vizer at the SportAccord General Assembly
on 20 April in Sochi, Russia.

More on the withdrawal from Sport Accord
Boccia star Murray named April’s Allianz
Athlete of the Month
Great Britain’s Nigel Murray’s strong performance
at the 2015 Boccia European Continental Cup
helped him garner enough votes to be named
April’s Allianz Athlete of the Month.

VISTA 2015 programme schedule complete
The full programme of world class speakers for
October's VISTA 2015 conference – held in Girona,
Spain, covering the theme "securing the future of
young para-athletes" – was announced. Jennifer
Mactavish, winner of the 2015 IPC Scientific
Award, will serve as the keynote speaker.

Issue: 1 - 18 May 2015
More on Murray
More on the VISTA 2015 programme
1
Mexico City, Mexico to stage 2015 IPC
General Assembly
The 17th IPC General Assembly will be held for the
first time in Central America, as it comes to Mexico
City on 14-15 November.
The General Assembly is the supreme authority of
the IPC which meets every two years. More than
300 attendees are expected to be at the event.

More on the General Assembly
Xavier Gonzalez, IPC CEO, met Ulrich Kelber,
Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal
Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection of
Germany, on 29 April to share ideas how the
relationship between the IPC, the city of Bonn, the
state of North Rhine Westfalia and the federal
government of Germany can be strengthened.

More on Gonzalez, Kelber's meeting
IPC confident of breaking Paralympic TV
viewing records at Rio 2016
IPC Academy Campus to be held in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
The IPC launched the IPC Academy Campus 2016
on 22 April, with the aim of transferring knowledge,
expertise and know-how to around 1,200 key
stakeholders during the Rio 2016 Paralympic
Games.
The IPC also announced that its Paralympic Games
Knowledge Management function will now fall
within the operation of the IPC Academy, the IPC’s
education division which is run in conjunction with
the World Academy of Sport.

More on the IPC Academy Campus
IPC CEO, German Parliamentary State
Secretary meet
Marking 500 days to go until the Rio 2016
Paralympics on 26 April, the IPC announced that it
expects the Games to break all TV viewing records
and exceed a cumulative global audience of four
billion people for the first time.
Around 4,350 athletes from 170 countries are
expected to compete in 428 medal events across
22 sports at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games which
take place between 7-18 September.

More on Rio 2016 viewing records
IPC, FIMS sign Partnership Agreement
The IPC and the International Federation of Sport
Medicine
(FIMS)
extended
their
Partnership
Agreement for five and a half more years.
Under the terms of the new agreement, the two
have identified a number of collaborative areas to
18 May 2015
2
improve
the
health,
safety,
research
and
performance of para-athletes.

Lucas becomes first British athlete selected
for Rio 2016 Paralympics
More on the Partnership Agreement
NPCs
Swedish Paralympic Committee announces
candidate list for Rio 2016
With less than 500 days to go until the Opening
Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games,
the
Swedish
Paralympic
Committee
has
published its candidate list of athletes.

London 2012 gold medallist Helena Lucas
became the first athlete selected to represent
ParalympicsGB at the Rio 2016 Games.
See the candidates here
Brazilian Paralympic Committee President
meets with President Rousseff
Lucas was the first British sailor to win a
Paralympic medal since the sport became a full
part of the Paralympic programme in 2000, as
she won gold in the 2.4mR class on home
water at London 2012.

More on Lucas’ selection
Paralympics Ireland appoints new
performance director
Four-time Paralympic swimmer Dave Malone will
President
of
the
Brazilian
Paralympic
Committee Andrew Parsons met Brazil's
President Dilma Rousseff on 13 May to discuss
preparations for the Rio 2016 Paralympic
Games.

More on Parson, Rousseff's meeting
18 May 2015
succeed Nancy Chillingworth as the NPC’s new
performance director.
Malone was previously performance manager and
head of Paralympic swimming at Paralympics
Ireland since 2009.

Read more about Malone
3
New Zealand's para-cycling coach departs
Canada nominates sitting volleyball squads
After
for Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games
guiding
New
Zealand’s
para-cycling
programme to multiple Paralympic and world
medals,
Brendon
Cameron
left
as
head
performance coach to become the women’s
endurance track cycling coach with Cycling New
Zealand.

More on Cameron’s departure
President of NPC France recognised
On 24 April in Paris, France, Emmanuelle Assmann
the President of NPC France and Secretary General
of the French Federation of Disabled Sports
received the prestigious legion d’honneur.

More on Assmann's legion d'honneur
Australia names team to Para-cycling Road
World Championships
Reigning road world champions Carol Cooke and
Alistair Donohoe are among those whom Cycling
Australia has announced will comprise their team
at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships
in Nottwil, Switzerland, from 29 July – 2 August.

See Australia’s para-cycling team here
The Canadian Paralympic Committee nominated
their athletes for the men's and women's sitting
volleyball teams for selection to the Toronto 2015
Parapan American Games, which is a direct
qualifier for Rio.
A total of 12 men and 10 women were named to the
team, along with the head coaches: Ray Sewell for
the men and Nicole Ban for the women.

More on Canada’s sitting volleyball team
New Zealand, the Netherlands name teams
for Glasgow 2015
Vander Vies, Gauthier-Manuel among former
Paralympians retiring
Canadian boccia player Josh Vander Vies and
alpine skiers Chris Williamson and Matt Hallat;
Spanish swimmer Deborah Font and French skier
Vincent Gauthier-Manuel announced they are
retiring.

More on Josh Vander Vies

More on Chris Williamson and Matt Hallat

More on Deborah Font
New Zealand’s reigning five-time world champion

More on Vincent Gauthier-Manuel
Sophie Pascoe, Paralympic champion Cameron
18 May 2015
4
Leslie and triple world champion Mary Fisher are
racquets or plane tickets for competition travel – all
among the swimmers heading to the IPC Swimming
in support of US Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls.
World Championships in July.
A 17-strong team of swimmers will represent the
Netherlands, including world and Paralympic
champions Lisette Teunissen, Marc Evers, Michael
Schoenmaker and Summer Mortimer.

More on the New Zealand swim team

More on the Netherlands’ swim team
NPC Burundi President Gahungu, Iranian
Paralympic champion Barghchi pass away
The IPC mourns in the losses of Appolinaire

More on the TeamUSARegistry.org
Allianz Suisse, Swiss Paralympic extend cooperation
Allianz Suisse and the Swiss National Paralympic
Committee will extend their partnership agreement
for two more years. The two organisations started
their partnership in 2011 and have successfully cooperated since then.

More on Allianz Suisse, NPC Switzerland's
co-operation
Gahungu, President of the National Paralympic
Committee of Burundi and three-time Paralympian
Hossein Barghchi, both who passed away in April.

More on Appolinaire Gahungu

More on Hossein Barghchi
Canadian government invests toward
International Federations
USA defeats Canada in Ice Sledge Hockey
World Championships A-Pool
Paralympic athlete development
Canada's Finance Minister Joe Oliver said during
his presentation of Canada's Economic Action Plan
2015-16 that CAD 20 million investment (CAD 5
million per year) will go toward high performance
sport over the four-year period.

More on Canada's investment
USOC launches fundraising website to help
Paralympic hopefuls
The United States Olympic and Paralympic
Foundation launched a fundraising programme
aimed at enhancing its annual fund called Team
USA Registry. At the core of the new campaign is a
website that allows donors to choose meaningful,
symbolic gifts, such as running shoes, badminton
18 May 2015
The USA shut out archrivals Canada, 3-0, in the
gold-medal game of the 2015 IPC Ice Sledge
Hockey World Championships A-Pool in Buffalo,
New York, USA on 3 May, securing their recordtying third world title. Russia defeated Norway for
the bronze medal.
5

More on the World Championships A-Pool
New para-archery world record set
Australia dominate at the ITTF Oceania
Para-Table Tennis Championships
Australia took home all four titles at the 2015
International
Table
Tennis
Federation
(ITTF)
Oceania Para-Table Tennis Championships, which
took place 10 April in Bendigo, Australia.
Meanwhile, the British duo of Will Bayley and Billy
Shilton topped World Champions Spain at the
Slovenia Open.


Iran’s London 2012 Paralympic champion Zahra
More on the ITTF Oceania Para-table tennis
Nemati set a new world record of 657 in the para-
championships
archery recurve open category on 6 May in
More on the Slovenia Open
Shanghai, China.
World Taekwondo Federation releases parataekwondo world rankings
The WTF has published the full list of WTF Parataekwondo World Rankings, just another step in

More on Nemati’s world record
Great Britain paddles away with four gold
medals at European Championships
showing the sport’s global development. World
rankings in para-taekwondo kyorugi were first
introduced at the 2015 Canada Para-Taekwondo
Open (G-1) in February and have since been
implemented
at
the
inaugural
Asian
Para-
taekwondo Championships (G-4/G-2) and the
fourth European Para-taekwondo Championships
(G-4/G-2).

More on para-taekwondo rankings
Great Britain’s para-canoe world champion Anne
Dickins captured the gold medal at the European
Canoe Sprint Seniors Championships in Racice,
Czech Republic.
The British went on to dominate the medal
standings, winning six in total (four which were
18 May 2015
6
gold) at the para-canoe competition featuring 81

on
the
Internationale
Deutsche
Meisterschaft
athletes.

More
More on the para-canoe Euro Champs
China dominates at Wheelchair Fencing
World Cup in Montreal
Germany, Slovenia to host 2015 sitting
volleyball European Championships
The world’s best wheelchair fencers gathered for
the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports
Federation (IWAS) Wheelchair Fencing World Cup
in Montreal, Canada, where China and Russia
battled for the podium.
Both nations combined for 20 individual medals
(10 each). But it was China who went home with
five gold medals; Russia claimed one.

Germany and Slovenia will host the men and
women’s
sitting
volleyball
European
More on the World Cup in Montreal
Italy’s Morganti, Great Britain’s Baker
highlight para-equestrian dressage events
Championships, respectively. The events offer
qualification spots for Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

More on the European Championships
Swimmers taper for July’s Worlds
Reigning six-time world champion Daniel Dias was
in great form at the 2015 Open Caixa Loterias
Swimming Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Dias won both the men’s 100m breaststroke SB4
and 50m freestyle S5. But it was just one of the
competitions swimmers used to taper for July’s
World Championships.
best 79.203% in the individual test and a massive
Earlier in April, Ukraine’s Anna Stetsenko and
Australian
Blake
Cochrane
were
among
22
swimmers who set new world records in Berlin,
Germany.

Italy’s top rider Sara Morganti scored a personal
80.500% in the freestyle, winning both Grade Ia
events D at the May Market Horse Show in
Mannheim, Germany. Meanwhile, Great Britain’s
Natasha Bakers rode her new horse, Sooki St.
James, at the three-star para-equestrian dressage
More on the Open Ciaxa Loterias Champs
18 May 2015
7
competition in Waregem, Belgium, to take the
South Africa’s Hayes highlights IPC
Grade II team and individual tests.
Athletics Grand Prix in Sao Paulo

More on Sara Morganti

More on Natasha Baker
Powerlifter Perez sets new world record
Mexico’s Paralympic and world champion Amalia
Perez showed an exciting return to form, setting a
new world record at the 2015 IPC Powerlifting
Open Americas Championships at home in Mexico
City. Perez took the women’s up to 61kg by posting
a 132.5kg lift to better the previous mark by 0.5kg.

More on the Open Americas Championships
USA racers dominate at World Marathon
Championships
Sprinter Ilse Hayes became the world’s fastest
female para-athlete after running the 100m T13 in
11.89 seconds at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in
Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Meanwhile, USA’s Jarryd Wallace stormed to
victory on his home track, and more than 10 Asian
records fell in Beijing, China, highlighted by China’s
women’s 4x100m T11/13 relay team.

More on the Sao Paulo Grand Prix

More on the Beijing Grand Prix

More on the Tempe Grand Prix
Johnson, Cockbill shoot-off closes Turkey
World Cup
There was triple delight for the USA in the
wheelchair races at the Virgin Money London
Marathon, as Joshua George, Tatyana McFadden
and Raymond Martin all clinched IPC Athletics
World Marathon gold on the streets of the British
capital.

More
on
Championships
the
World
Marathon
An exciting shoot-off between New Zealand’s 2014
Worlds bronze medallist Michael Johnson and
Great
Britain’s
Ryan
Cockbill
concluded
competition at the IPC Shooting World Cup in
Antalya, Turkey, on 15 May. In the end, it was
Johnson who emerged victorious.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Vasyl Kovalchuk won R5 gold
after an exhilarating conclusion to the World Cup in
Szczecin, Poland, involving a three-way battle, in
late April.
18 May 2015
8

More on the World Cup in Turkey
raced to gold in the sonar class at the ISAF Sailing

More on the World Cup in Poland
World Cup in Hyères on 26 April.
Brazil, Canada finish atop at Boccia

Americas Team, Pairs Championships
Brazil picked up one gold and two silvers, while
Canada also took home a triad of medals at the
2015
Boccia
Americas
Team
and
More on the Sailing World Cup in Hyeres
Germany’s Schulz continues strong showing
with paratriathlon win in Madrid
Pairs
Championships, which concluded 3 May in
Montreal, Canada.

More
on
the
Americas
Team,
Pairs
Championships
Sithole upsets Wagner to take SA Open
South Africa’s Lucas Sithole won his fourth-career
super series quad singles with victory over US world
No. 1 David Wagner in front of his home crowd at
the Airports Company South Africa Open in
Johannesburg.

Top-ranked Martin Schulz added another gold
medal to his collection, winning the men’s PT4
category at the Madrid International Triathlon
Union (ITU) World Paratriathlon Event in Madrid,
More on the South Africa Open
Spain, on 17 May.
Malaysia hosts wheelchair rugby workshop

The Malaysian Wheelchair Rugby Federation
(MWFR) hosted the inaugural South East Asia
Wheelchair Rugby Workshop at the Paralympic
Excellence Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The
event
drew
representatives
from
Malaysia,
Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, and focused on
teaching basic game skills and growing the sport in
the region.

More on the wheelchair rugby workshop
More on the World Paratriathlon Event in
Madrid
Glasgow 2015 tickets still available
From 13-19 July, around 650 swimmers from over
50 countries will head to Glasgow, Great Britain to
compete in the 2015 IPC Swimming World
Championships,
the
seventh
edition
of
the
competition. Tickets are currently on sale.

Find more on Glasgow 2015
France takes double gold at Sailing World
Cup in Hyères
Damien Seguin secured the victory in the final
2.4mR race, while the French trio of Bruno
Jourdren, Eric Flageul and Nicolas Vimont-Vicary
18 May 2015
9
Rio 2016
Organising Committees
Paralympic Games ticket prices announced
Toronto 2015
Broadcast schedule announced
The Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games
Organising Committee celebrated 100 days to go
until the Games by announcing its broadcast
schedule, featuring more hours of Parapan Am
Games broadcast than before, in partnership with
CBC/Radio-Canada.

With around 300 sessions at the Rio 2016
More on Toronto 2015 broadcast schedule
Schedule for arts, cultural festival
Paralympics, ticket costs range between BRL 10
and BRL 130. Prices for the Opening and Closing
Ceremonies vary from BRL 100 to BRL 1,200.
PANAMANIA now out

More on the Rio 2016 ticket prices
Torch relay details unveiled
The torch relay is set to take place across seven
days in all five regions of Brazil and will also feature
the British town of Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace
of the Paralympic Games. About 500 torchbearers
will carry the flame, while the public will be invited
to take part through digital media.

More on the torch relay
PANAMANIA will feature more than 1,300 artists in
Rio 2016 celebrates 500 days until the
250 performances and exhibitions across Toronto,
Paralympic Games with flash mob
Canada from 10 July to 15 August. The festival will
showcase
the
diverse
cultures
and
artistic
excellence of Ontario, Canada, and the Americas
through music, theatre, dance and more, with free
and ticketed events.

About 200 dancers performed an energetic flash
mob alongside Copacabana beach on 26 April to
celebrate 500 days to go until the Games.

More on 500 days to go celebrations
More on PANAMANIA
18 May 2015
10
PyeongChang 2018
Lee Moon-tae named executive artistic
director
The PyeongChang Organising Committee selected
Lee Moon-tae as executive artistic director for the
Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (Mitsui Fudosan) was
appointed as Tokyo 2020’s partner in the category
of “Real Estate Development.”
Mizuho
Group,
Inc.
(Mizuho)
and
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG)
were also welcomed as its Gold Partners.
PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

Financial
Read more about Lee Moon-tae

More on Mitsui Fudosan’s involvement

More on Mizuho and SMFG’s involvement
New official website unveiled
The PyeongChang Organising Committee for the
2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games has
redesigned its official website.
Agitos Foundation
Agitos Foundation paves Road to Rio 2016
The new official Games website features more user-
The Agitos Foundation, alongside Rio 2016 and the
friendly designs and is easier to navigate menus. It
Brazilian Paralympic Committee, began the latest
was built with state-of-the-art technology, making it
workshops
responsive for optimal viewing on mobile platforms
classification and sport management in the
and tablets.
Americas in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

More on the PyeongChang 2018’s website
Tokyo 2020
Mitsui Fudosan, Mizuho and SMFG added as

designed
to
improve
coaching,
More about the workshop
Latest edition of para-sport training project
wraps up
partners
The
Agitos
Foundation
welcomed
16
representatives of NPCs to the third round of its
18 May 2015
11
Organisational Capacity Programme, which got
underway in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 18-21 April.
Other news
The Organisational Capacity Programme, which has
APC Gathering attendees commit to making
continually developed over the past 12 months,
Asia ‘best region’ in Paralympic Movement
aims to give NPCs the knowledge, support and
tools to develop athletes, as well as increase their
activities in other important areas such as Games
preparation and fundraising over a two year period.

More
on
the
Organisational
Capacity
Programme
Agitos Foundation launches 2015 Grant
Support Programme
The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC), with the
help of hosts the United Arab Emirates Paralympic
Committee, organised the first ever APC Gathering
9- 11 May in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The gathering brought together more than 100
delegates from 30 APC members, the IPC and sport
institutions, to discuss the APC’s future direction
and inform the drafting of their first strategic plan.

More on the APC gathering
The Agitos Foundation launched the third edition of
USA’s McFadden wins Laureus Sport Award
its innovative and hugely successful Grant Support
US Paralympian Tatyana McFadden won the 2015
Programme, which will once again make EUR
Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a
650,000 available to para-sport projects around the
Disability Award at a glittering ceremony in
world.
Shanghai, China, for her achievements in 2014 in

More on the Grant Support Programme
both athletics and cross-country skiing.

18 May 2015
More on McFadden's Laureus Award win
12
Zanardi receives SportAccord Sport Hero
WOWOW Inc., to include wheelchair tennis
award
in lineup
Japanese
broadcaster
WOWOW
Inc.,
has
announced it will become the first broadcaster in
the world to screen all four wheelchair
tennis
Grand Slam events, starting with next month’s
Roland Garros in Paris, France.

More on WOWOW’s broadcasting
Usain Bolt runs as guide for visually
impaired Paralympic champion Guilhermina
Italian para-cyclist Alex Zanardi received the
SportAccord
Euronews
Sport
Hero
award,
announced during a ceremony in Sochi, Russia,
that was broadcast live on Euronews in 156
countries and 13 languages.

More on Zanardi's SportAccord award
INAS launches Global ID Sport Day
In its inaugural year, the Global ID Sport Day will
provide an opportunity for people around the world
Brazil’s three-time Paralympic sprinting champion
to come together to celebrate participation and
Terezinha Guilhermina unveiled a new guide on 18
excellence in sport for people with an intellectual
April in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - none other than
disability.
Jamaica’s six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt.
The event will take place on 12 June – exactly 100
Bolt was in the host city of next year’s Olympic and
days to go until the 2015 INAS Global Games in
Paralympic Games to promote the Mano a Mano
Ecuador. The day aims to raise the profile of INAS
Challenge at the Brazilian Jockey Club and,
and its members, and celebrate the success of
grinning all the way, joined with Guilhermina to take
athletes with an intellectual disability across the
part in a 50m sprint.
world.


More on Global ID Sport Day
More on Guilhermina, Bolt
Adecco offers Way to Work Programme
Through its “Way to Work Programme” Adecco - a
partner of the IPC for the Athlete Career
18 May 2015
13
Programme - offers internship opportunities around

the world for young people and athletes.
Championships (Belgrade, Serbia) – 6-7
Elite athletes have specific traits and skills acquired
during their sports career that are invaluable in a
professional capacity. By engaging early with
organisations through internships, full-time or parttime job experiences athletes can boost their sports
and workplace career which will help them achieve
life-long success.

IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport Serbian Open
June

(Besancon, France) – 7 June

Boccia
Asia/Oceania
Team
&
Pairs
Championships (Hong Kong) – 10-14 June

IPC Athletics Grand Prix (Grosseto, Italy) –
12-14 June

More information on the Adecco Way to
Besancon ITU World Paratriathlon Event
UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup (YvertonLes-Bains, Switzerland) – 13-16 June
Work Programme

More information on the IPC Athlete Career
Programme
IPC website
Facebook: /ParalympicGames
Twitter: @Paralympic
YouTube: ParalympicSport.TV
Upcoming events

Dutch Para Archery Tournament (Almere,
Netherlands) – 17-22 May

IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup (Pisa,
Italy) – 22-24 May

BNP Paribas Wheelchair Tennis World
Team Cup (Antalya, Turkey) – 25-31 May

3rd Bayreuth Open para table tennis
(Bayreuth, Germany) – 26-31 May

IPC
Athletics
Grand
Prix
(Nottwil,
Switzerland) – 29-31 May

ITU World Paratriathlon Event (London,
Great Britain) – 30 May

Roland Garros (Grand slam) wheelchair
tennis (Paris, France) – 3-5 June

UCI
Para-cycling
Road
World
Cup
(Maniago, Italy) – 5-7 June
18 May 2015
14