Iran dedicates building for National Paralympic Day

The National Paralympic Committee of Iran (NPC Iran) held a ceremony on 24 May in Tehran to include National Paralympic Day in their routine mission to serve the people with impairments.

A new building has been dedicated as National Paralympic Day Headquarters to follow up all the affairs related to the event.

Referring to the inclusion of National Paralympic Day in the Iranian annual calendar on 16 October, the NPC Iran’s secretary general Amir Mandegarfard said: "The first edition of this event was launched in 2001 with 2,860 people attending, while last year we handled about 40,000 people in the ceremony. Thanks to the efforts of all former NPC officials, this initiative has two goals: to recognise families with disabilities, as there are honour podiums for their children, and then to send the message to the society that people with disabilities are capable of bringing honour to the country."

Additionally, on the same day of the ceremony, the 13th NPC Iran General Assembly was held in the Iran Sports Federation for the Disabled Headquarters, attended by Shahrokh Shahnazi, Iran National Olympic Committee Secretary General, and Shabani Bahar, Sport for All Deputy of Ministry of Sports and Youth.

Mandegarfard and Fatemeh Rakhshani, Vice President of the NPC Iran, presented a comprehensive six-month NPC report from September 2014 to March 2015 to the members.

Khosravi Vafa, President of the NPC Iran, further explained the NPC’s plan to prioritise sports in three levels.

"All of three levels are prioritised based on their chance to get medals in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games,” Vafa said. “The first goes to sports that our athletes can reach medals. Second goes to ones where our athletes can qualify or probably get medals, and finally to sports that do not have the above conditions, but our budgeting plan will fairly be organised to help them reach their goals."

"We predict 20 percent growth in the number of athletes to be representing Iran in these Games. We want to improve our standing in previous Games. Hence, we will do our best to achieve a better performance in Rio.”