Algeria certain to continue London success

"We all worked hard from the beginning of the season for one goal - to not return empty-handed from Lyon."

Algeria will be sending a team of 26 athletes to the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships with the sole intention of continuing their medal success at London 2012, where the team collected a total of 16 medals.

"We believe we have selected the athletes likely to be a good representation. The quota of Algeria was 32 athletes, but we believe that those under consideration are more likely to make a good representation at the Worlds", said the National Technical Director (DTN), Mr. Zoubir Aichaine.

At the last IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, Algeria won a total of 21 medals (eight gold, six silver and seven bronze), finishing 11th in the medal table.

The assistant to the DTN, Said Saad said: "We recognize that the level of Lyon will be very tough and participation will be strong. But we will live up to our ambitions to always be in the global elite.”

"Lyon will be a step that will allow us to evaluate our performance and give us an idea of the work ahead of us here for the Paralympic Games in Rio, Brazil in 2016."

Athletes were selected for Lyon following international meetings in Algeria and Tunisia, and team officials also attended a training camp.

"It should be noted the importance of holding the meeting in Algiers which allowed many athletes to achieve the minimum participation in the world championships”, added Aichaine.

For Nouioua Samir, who picked up silver and bronze in London in the men’s 800m and 1,500m T46 respectively, and discus F57/58 Paralympic Champion Nassima Saifi, competing well at the World Championships is the only goal for 2013 and will be "a new challenge" to meet for themselves and their team mates.

"Any athlete aspires to win one of the gold medals on offer. We are well prepared and ready to make a good performance. It is true that the course of events coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, but we will get used to it, as we did in Beijing in 2008.”

"We all worked hard from the beginning of the season for one goal - to not return empty-handed from Lyon, especially as we have the duty to defend the reputation of our discipline and Algerian para-sport in general," Nouioua said.

Also competing in Lyon will be Paralympic Champion in the men’s F51/52/53 discus, Mohamed Berrahal, Bahlaz Lahouari (current men’s discus F32 world record holder and London bronze and silver medallist in the club throw F31/32/51 and silver in the discus F32/33/34), and Safia Djelal (current women’s javelin F58 world record holder and London silver medallist in the javelin F52/58).

The full Algerian team:

Women

Nassima Saifi, shot put, discus (F58)

Safia Djelal, shot put, javelin (F58)

Nadia Medjmedj, discus, shot put (F57)

Benoumessad Louadjeda, shot put, javelin (F34)

Mounia Gasmi, shot put, club (F32)

Souheila Hariki, shot put (F34)

Lynda Hamri, 100m, 200m, long jump (T13)

Men

Abdellatif Baka, 800m, 1500m (T13)

Mohamed Berrahal, 100m, 200m, discus (T51)

Allel Boukhalfa, 100m, 200m (T35)

Madjid Djemai, 800m, 1500m (T37/38)

Sofiane Hamdi, 200m, 400m (T37)

Nacer-Eddine Kerfas, 5000m, 10000m (T12)

Redouane Merah, 800m (T12)

Jamil Nasser, 200m, 400m (T13)

Samir Nouioua, 800m, 1500m, 5000m (T46)

Zine Eddine Sekhri, 400m, 800m (T13)

Redouane Ait Said, shot put (F38)

Bahlaz Lahouari, discus, club (F32)

Mounir Bakiri, shot put, club (F32)

Karim Betina, shot put, discus, club (F32)

Bentria Firas, long jump, triple jump (F11)

Fatah Chourak, shot put (F35)

Hocine Gherzouli, shot put (F40/41)

Kamel Kerdjena, shot put, discus, javelin (F53)

Meskine Maamar, shot put, discus (F46/47)

The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships kick off this Friday (19 July) in Lyon, France and will be the biggest gathering of international athletes since London 2012.

You can watch 1,100 athletes from 98 countries compete live from Saturday (20 July) morning at www.ParalympicSport.TV

Live results can be found at the Lyon 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships website whilst updates and behind the scenes pictures can be found at twitter.com/IPCAthletics and facebook.com/IPCAthletics