Demonstrating the strong support for a growing Paralympic sport industry in Hungary, the HunPara Rio team, at 43 athletes, is one of the largest Paralympic contingents in Hungary’s sporting history. Hungary has been a consistent Paralympic participant since its first Paralympic Games in 1972 and has competed in nine editions of the Games since then.
Looking back at the Games so far, Anita Urr, Secretary-General of the Hungarian Paralympic Committee is "immensely proud" of the achievements of the HunPara Team to date. "There are ten medals coming home to Hungary so far in table tennis, swimming, powerlifting and wheelchair fencing," she said. "We hope there will be even more to follow in the final few days of the Games. Bianka Pap, at just 16 years old, deserves a special mention: she gave such an exceptional performance to earn her two medals and has made headline news in Hungary."
Urr is a vocal advocate of the Budapest 2024 bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024. "Budapest represents a genuine opportunity to revitalise the way we think about parasport in Hungary and the region," she said. "In Hungary, nearly a quarter of the population aged 15 or over reports having a disability. With the world’s eyes on Budapest, a Paralympic Games would help us to boost not just recognition and grassroots support, but even more funding for our young, promising Paralympic athletes. It’s a chance for a genuine, lasting legacy."
Hungary is already a busy host of international federation events, and is hoping to open up its repertoire to new parasport events in the next few years. Recent Para championship events hosted in Hungary include the Wheelchair Fencing World Cup and Swimming Hungarian Open held earlier in 2016. Six major events were hosted last year, including the Wheelchair Fencing World Championship, Powerlifting European Open Championship, and IBSA Judo World Cup. Events coming up next year include the Table Tennis Hungarian Open, Powerlifting World Cup, Swimming
Hungarian Open, International Sitting Volleyball Tournament, Goalball World Championship and Wheelchair Fencing World Cup.
Among this year’s Hungarian Paralympians is the swimmer Ferenc Nándor Csuri. Csuri is one of the 22 candidates hoping to join the IPC Athletes’ Council after elections in Rio this year. "The final vote will come out very soon and all of us at HunPara can’t wait to hear if Ferenc will become an ambassador for the IPC," commented Urr. "He is an exceptionally bright, energetic and talented young man."
Alongside the active Hungarian athletes who have been participating at Rio are a number of retired athlete observers such as János Becsey, double world-record-breaking swimmer and five-time Paralympic medal winner (including two Paralympic gold). Becsey is one of the few Paralympians among the 300 observers who have been taking part in the Rio programme. He is also a member of the Budapest 2024 Athletes’ Commission, along with fellow Paralympian Dóra Pásztory.
The Budapest 2024 observer programme, headed by Gusztáv Bienerth, Vice-Chairman of the Budapest Bid, has also reported a "very constructive" week of participation at the Rio Paralympics Games.
"We thank the Rio Organising Committee and the IPC for the excellent Paralympic Observer programme and the opportunity to complete our mission in capturing tremendously valuable information from these Games," said Bienerth. "We have been concentrating on elements such as venue transformation, transport and athlete experience over the last ten days, and back in Budapest, the team has already begun to work our observations into the uniquely compact Budapest master plan. International federation visits to Budapest begin in a few days and we are keen to work with federations to optimise our venues based on what we have seen here and our own long experience of hosting championship parasport events in Hungary."
All facts are correct at the time of this release.
For more information, please contact:
Iván RÓZSA
Director of International Communications
Tel: +36 30 538 3863
Email: ivan.rozsa@budapest2024.org
www.budapest2024.org
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