PARALYMPIC AND PARA SPORTS NEWS

Second Laureus Award for Vergeer
Bonn, Germany – Yesterday, Dutch Wheelchair Tennis player Esther Vergeer was named Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability at the ninth Laureus World Sports Awards. The award was presented by Laureus World Sports Academy members Ilie Nastase and Marcel Desailly at a ceremony held at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia.

IPC Governing Board Statement on Combining of Sport Classes
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board is opposed to offering medal events at IPC sanctioned competitions that combine sports classes for athletes with a visual impairment and blind together with those of other sport classes in head-to-head competition.

ParalympicSport.TV Gets New Look
Bonn, Germany - Today the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) re-launched its web TV channel ParalympicSport.TV.

Governing Board Meets in Bonn
Bonn, Germany - Last weekend, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board (GB) concluded its 49th official meeting in Bonn, Germany.

New Additions to ODI
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) welcomed six National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) into the Organizational Development Initiative (ODI) yesterday. There are now a total of 15 NPCs from four regions participating in the ODI. The new NPCs are from Azerbaijan, Cape Verde, Kenya, Rwanda, Tunisia and Uruguay. They joined the NPCs of Burundi, Lesotho, Morocco, Namibia, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Turkey and Zambia who joined in the first year of the initiative in 2007.

'Athlete First: A History of the Paralympic Movement' Now Available
On the occasion of the annual International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Reception, Gudrun Doll-Tepper, the President of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE), presented IPC President Sir Philip Craven with a copy of “Athlete First: A History of the Paralympic Movement”.

IPC Celebrates Start of Chinese New Year
On the evening of 7 February, athletes, representatives from sport, the German government, partners, sponsors and media gathered for the annual International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Reception at the Headquarters of the Deutsche Telekom AG in Bonn, Germany.

Paralympian Ambassadors Announced
Bonn, Germany – Today, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) proudly announced the launch of its Paralympian Ambassador Programme.