The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that the Portuguese athlete Luis Carlos Martins Goncalves, who won two gold medals at June’s 2012 IPC Athletics European Championships, has been suspended for two years for an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.

Martins Goncalves returned an adverse analytical finding for Methylhexaneamine in a urine sample provided on 27 June 2012 during the IPC Athletics European Championships in Stadskanaal, the Netherlands.

Methylhexaneamine is included on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2012 Prohibited List under the Stimulants category and is consequently prohibited under the IPC Anti-Doping Code.

Martins Goncalves waived his right to a hearing and accepted to have committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.

In accordance with the IPC Anti-Doping Code, Luis Carlos Martins Goncalves will serve a two year suspension for the offence beginning on 27June 2012; the date from which the sample was collected. All results obtained from the date of the competition on 27 June 2012 and onwards, will be disqualified with all the resulting consequences including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes. A financial sanction of €1,500 was also imposed on the athlete.

As a result Martins Goncalves has been stripped of the European titles he won in the 200m and 400m T12 events in Stadskanaal. This means that in the 200m Russia’s Fedor Trikolich, who originally took silver, will now receive the gold medal and Spain’s Gerard Desgarrega Puigdevall will be awarded the silver.

In the 400m Turkey’s Semih Deniz will receive the gold and Portugal’s Rodolfo Alves the silver.

Martin Goncalves has had his qualification slot for the London 2012 Paralympic Games revoked and therefore will not be able to compete at the Games.

The IPC would like to highlight the risk of supplement use and remind athletes that they are strictly liable for the substances found in their samples.

As a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), the IPC remains committed to a doping free sporting environment at all levels. The IPC, together with the International Federations and the National Paralympic Committees, established the IPC Anti-Doping Code to prevent doping in sport for Paralympic athletes, in the spirit of fair play.

National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) worldwide are celebrating 100 days to go to the London 2012 Paralympic Games promoting para-sport and the para-athletes in their countries.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee launches a Facebook Super Fan Contest on Tuesday (22 May), which calls upon Canadians who support the Paralympic Movement. To prove that they are a Canadian Paralympic Super Fan they have to create their own nickname, provide a picture and a brief explanation on why they are a super fan. Entries receive votes (“Likes”) on Facebook and the entry with the highest number of votes will win a trip for two to London to catch live Paralympic events, tour the city and cheer on the Team. Visit www.facebook.com/CDNParalympics to enter.

The Belgium Paralympic Committee is celebrating 100 days to go with activities and events in the Belgium coastal town Blankenberge. The town will be turned into a Paralympic Village and the Belgium NPC together with its Flemish League will be hosting various Paralympic events in Boccia, Goalball, Table Tennis, Tennis, Wheelchair Basketball, and Wheelchair Rugby. On 26 May, the “Beach Paralympics” will take place with various activities including a wheelchair course, Wheelchair Tennis, Wheelchair Basketball, and interviews with Paralympic athletes.

The Austrian Paralympic Committee will host a winemaker’s dinner to create a special wine to be served in Austrian house during Paralympics. Besides athletes and sponsors, the ambassadors from previous (China, Canada) and future Games (Great Britain, Brazil) host countries will be present

While NPC Portugal will present the musical theme for the Portuguese delegation on 100 days out, para-athletes in Hungary are invited to a test driving event next to the famous Formula 1 Hungaro circuit.

Various other NPCs are staging events together with the UK embassies in their country to raise awareness for the London 2012 Paralympic Games and para-sport. NPC Peru will launch a school sport exhibition, while Uzbekistan will be holding a Table Tennis competition and NPC Tajikistan is staging a Powerlifting event. NPC Mauritius and the British High Commission organized a visit to a school for children with an impairment where the two athletes representing Mauritius at the London Paralympics talked about their experience in Para-sport.

The NPC of Papua New Guinea announced a major funding boost by the Government of Papua New Guinea through the National Gaming Control Board. The NPC will receive 300,000 Kina (115,000 Euro) for the preparation and participation of Papua New Guinea’s delegation for the London 2012 Paralympics and to help accomplish the new four-year strategic plan.

The London 2012 Paralympic Games will be the biggest ever with 165 participating National Paralympic Committees, who will send approximately 4,200 athletes.

“We underperformed this morning in the semi-final, which was disappointing."

Great Britain's BC3 team of Jacob Thomas and Jess Hunter had a surprise win on Monday (7 May) against Belgium and Greece.

Ranked ninth before the competition, the first defeated world number three pairs Belgium's Kirsten De Laender and Pieter Clilissen in the semi-finals, then world number one, Greece's Greg Polychronidis and Nikolaos Pananos in the finals.

In the finals, Thomas and Hunter secured a strong lead in the second end by scoring four points, which the Greek pairs could not gain back. The final score was 6-1.

Belgium won bronze by beating Canada's Paul Gauthier and Bruno Garneau 6-0.

In the BC1/BC2 team event, Great Britain had been the the favourites, with David Smith and Nigel Murray both winning gold in the individual competitions on Saturday (5 May).

But Great Britain, ranked third in the world, was defeated by world number one Korea 12-1 in the semi-finals. Korea went on to win gold against Portugal 7-6, and Great Britain won the bronze-medal match against China, with an impressive 11-4 score.

Great Britain's Nigel Murray was disappointed with the result.

“We underperformed this morning in the semi-final, which was disappointing,” said Murray. “But we bounced back well and we managed to beat Hong Kong quite convincingly to get the the bronze medal, so that sort of lessened the blow.”

At the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Boccia will take place at ExCeL from 2-8 September.

Great Britain's BC1-player David Smith and BC2-player Nigel Murray both won gold in the individual Boccia competition on Saturday (5 May) at the Boccia test event, part of the London Prepares series. Their teammate Jacob Thomas took bronze in the BC3 competition.

The tournament was held at the Basketball Arena, although during the London Paralympics, Boccia players will compete in ExCeL.

David Smith beat Korea's Kwang-Min Ji 3-1 in the final. Though Ji won the first end, Smith smashed back to win the next three.

Ji had beaten Gabriel Shelley 10-1 and Hong Kong's Kam Lung Wong 5-1 to get to the finals, whilst Smith had got the better of teammate Andrew Morgan 9-0 and Portugal's Joao Paulo dos Santos Fernandes 4-0.

Fernandes took bronze after beating Hong Kong's Kam Lung Wong 6-4.

World number one Nigel Murray beat Korea's So-Yeong Jeong – ranked third – 4-3 in the BC2 finals. So-Yeong won the first end 2-0, but Murray equalized in the second end. In the third end, So-Yeong scored one point, but Murray fought back in the fourth end to score another 2 points by touching his ball with the jack ball.

Murray made it to the finals after beating Hong Kong's Hiu Lam Yeung 5-3 and Portugal's Abilio Valente 7-0. So-Yeong beat Great Britain's Dan Bentley 4-3 and Japan's Hirose Takayuki 4-2.

Valente took bronze after winning 7-3 against Takayuki

In the BC3 event, world number one Greg Polychronidis of Greece won gold after winning the tiebreaker (3-3) against Portugal's Jose Macedo.

Polychronidis won the first end 2-0. Macdeo scored 1-0 in the second end, but Polychronidis quickly compensated with a 1-0 win in the third end. But in the fourth end, Macedo scored a 2-0 victory, sending the game into a tiebreaker, which Polychronidis won 1-0.

Polychronidis beat Great Britain's Scott McCowan 3-1 and Jacob Thomas 5-3 earlier in the competition. Macedo won against Spain's Veronica Pamies 8-2 and Belgium's Kirsten de Laender 4-2 to make it to the final.

Great Britain's Jacob Thomas took bronze after also going into a tiebreaker on 5-5 against Belgium's de Laender.

The competition continues with the team events.