Oceania Paralympic Committee elects board members

Five board members have been elected on the Oceania Paralympic Committee (OCP) during its General Assembly held on 3 April in Fiji.

Australia’s Paul Bird was elected President of the OCP, while New Zealand’s Dr. Selwyn Maister will serve as Secretary General.

Joining the two are Fiji’s Jagdish Maharaj as treasurer; Vanuatu’s Andrew Bynon as a board member at large; and Fiji’s table tennis Paralympian Mere Roden Tennis as athlete representative.

During the General Assembly, members reviewed the Strategic Plan 2017-2020, and also discussed how they could prepare for Tokyo 2020 and the Commonwealth Games while reviewing some takeaways from Rio 2016.

The members discussed how they could develop more in the region, specifically about the challenges and opportunities women in Oceania face to take up sports; and ways the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) development arm the Agitos Foundation is utilising its talent identification workshop to develop Para sports.

Attendees also got to participate in an open forum that included panel members from the OPC, IPC and Fiji government. There delegates got to interact with the panel about key issues, questions relating to their National Paralympic Committees, sports and more.

The General Assembly concluded with the board elections.