Wheelchair dance sport Worlds presented to media

The 2015 IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships were presented to the Italian media on Wednesday (28 October), just over one week before the competition gets underway in Rome on 6 November.

National athletes and officials from local government, the National Paralympic Committee (NPC), National Federation and Rai Sport talked about the importance of the World Championships for Italy and Rome.

The President of the Italian NPC Luca Pancalli and Secretary General Marco Giunio De Sanctis joined organisers the Italian Dance Sport Federation (FIDS) and their President Christian Zamblera, Secretary General Giuseppina Mattioli and medical coordinator Professor Tranquilli.

"It's an honour and a privilege for us to host such an important event in Italy for the first time,” Zamblera said in a statement issued ahead of the conference. “On behalf of the Italian Dance Sport Federation and all of my staff, I want to express the joy and the pride of being able to include the World Championships in our 2015 programme.

“I hope this is just the beginning of an even more solid partnership between FIDS, IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport and CIP [Italian NPC], and I'm looking forward to attending this amazing event."

Pancalli said: “I greet and welcome the 2015 IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships, the first in the history of the discipline to be held in Rome. It will be an unmissable festival of inclusion and a musical demonstration with steps and evolutions, that sport is an opportunity offered and granted to everyone.

“It's an honour for me to greet the registered couples. You're all invited to this festival, where you'll be surprised to discover that sport is one, the abilities are endless and extraordinary, and the emotions very strong and always different.

Director Carlo Paris also confirmed Rai Sport’s commitment to supporting the Championships.

Corriere dello Sport, Tuttosport, Italpress and the Ability Channel heard from dancers Linda Galeotti and Leonardo Batani ahead of Rome 2015, which runs from 6-8 November.

Around 150 dancers from 25 countries will compete in couples and singles events at the Bocciodromo. More information can be found at IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport’s website.