Paralympic Travel Grants Paid By End of August

(ATR) The International Paralympic Committee tells Around the Rings they expect Rio 2016 to pay travel grants for National Paralympic Committees in the next two weeks.

The grants are seen as the only way for many small NPCs to attend the Rio Paralympics, as travel costs exceed many of the their budgets. IPC spokesman Craig Spence told ATR that the current Paralympic funding crisis is a "rapidly evolving situation," but organizers are still confident the payment of the grants will be made.

Spence said that even if the grants are paid, 10 NPCs have spoken with the IPC about additional funding needed to cover travel costs. Spence declined to name any of those 10 NPCs.

"We are working as hard as we can to ensure maximum participation at the Games," Spence said. "The Rio 2016 Organizing Committee has assured us the grants will be paid to all 165 participating countries by the end of August."

Rio 2016 communications director Mario Andrada told ATR that organizers expect to deliver a Paralympic Games up to the standards of the 2016 Olympics. He said that organizers are working on a solution to ensure that "[all] the NPCs get here," for the 2016 Games.

Andrada said that organizers "understand we have plenty of time," to come up with the money for the grants. He would not comment further on the state of city hall funds being used to fund the Paralympics, because the injunction blocking the release of funds remains in place.

A Brazilian judge ordered an injunction blocking the distribution of public funds to Rio 2016 until the organizing committee opens up its financial accounts for transparency purposes. Spence said that the $46.44 million in funding remains available from city hall, although the injunction in place is a "major hurdle," for organizers.

"[The] extra funds are critical to the success of the Games," Spence said. "This is a rapidly evolving situation and we are working every hour we can to not only source additional funding but look at how we can make further cost savings within the budget available."

Paralympic Ticket Sales Concerning

Rio 2016 says that only 12 percent of Paralympic tickets have been sold so far.

In June Rio 2016 ticketing director Donovan Ferreti told ATR that just under 30 percent of Paralympic tickets had been sold . At the time, organizers said that 500,000 tickets that were expected to be bought by city hall were not in this figure.

Mario Andrada told ATR that the discrepancy in reported ticket sales was in fact due to the purchase of those tickets. Andrada confirmed that Mayor Eduardo Paes planned to purchase those tickets and distribute them. An injunction blocked the sale and distribution of those tickets, as it is currently an election year in Rio de Janerio, leading to the new 12 percent figure for ticket sales.

Slow ticket sales, and a lack of sponsors are the two main causes for the Paralympic budget shortfall. Rio 2016 says that a full budget review is ongoing and the Paralympics could see the same non-essential service cuts that happened during Olympic preparations.

Andrada told journalists that organizers were "concerned," with the lack of ticket sales, but expected sales to pick up after the Olympics.

"We made these concerns public several ways during the journey," Andrada said. "We understand the rhythm of sales has picked up, and the end of the Games tends to help a lot in the selling of tickets for Paralympics. That’s what we’re working on."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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