IPC Shores Up Paris, Beijing Sport Programs

(ATR) All sports that will feature in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and CP Football will go to a final review for inclusion in the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

The IPC considered 28 sports for inclusion in the 2024 Paralympics, and determined golf, karate, para dance sport, powerchair football and sailing did not meet inclusion requirements.

"Following the Board’s decision, the IPC will now provide feedback to the remaining 23 sports and ask several of them for further information to be submitted by 3 December," a statement from the IPC said. "The IPC Governing Board will then decide on the final Paris 2024 Paralympic sport program at its meeting in January."

Of the sports that did not meet the IPC criteria, only sailing has been on the Paralympic program before. CP Football was discontinued from the Paralympic program after Rio 2016, but is up for reconsideration.

World Sailing said in a statement it was "shocked and disappointed," at the IPC decision to exclude sailing from Paris 2024 consideration. Sailing was on the Paralympic program from 2000 to 2016.

"We worked tirelessly to ensure sailing met the IPC criteria and our application was of a high standard and everyone at World Sailing is deeply saddened by the news from the IPC," Andy Hunt, World Sailing chief executive, said in a statement. "So much has been achieved over the past few years in developing Para World Sailing and we will continue to provide a program of events for the sailors that compete regularly at a national and international level."

After announcing the 23 sport finalists IPC President Andrew Parsons said in a statement it's clear Paris 2024’s quality of competition will be "higher than ever before" in the Paralympic movement.

"We want the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games to showcase the best possible Para sports with the strongest global appeal," Parsons said. "Following review of the further information we receive from international federations we will make our final decision on the number of sports and which sports are included in January once we have full agreement from the IOC and Paris 2024."

For Beijing 2022, the IPC said that para bobsleigh "failed to meet one of the minimum requirements" for inclusion on the Paralympic program. The sport had been provisionally accepted on the Beijing program in 2016.

The IPC said that para bobsleigh needed to have a minimum of 12 countries participating regularly in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons from three regions. The federation did not reach that threshold, according to a statement.

"We hope the sport will continue to develop over the coming years so that it is in a stronger position for inclusion in the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games sport program," Parsons said.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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