To celebrate the first visit of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president An­drew Parson to Fiji, the Fiji Paralympic Com­mittee are hosting an inclusive sports event at the Nadi Sports Club today.

School students from Lautoka Special School, adults with disabilities from the Nadi branch of the Fiji Disabled People’s Federation and those from villages from the greater Nadi area will have an opportunity to try five Paralympic sports includ­ing archery, athletics, badminton, table tennis and swimming.

Also coaches, instructors and executive members of national sporting federations would be on site to introduce their sports to over 40 people with physi­cal disabilities from Lautoka and Nadi.

PRESENCE OF HEROES

Fiji’s Paralympic heroes Iliesa Delana, gold medal winner from the London 2012 Paralympic Games and former Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports will be in attendance.

Also present is Mere Roden who represented Fiji in table tennis at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and among them are the 12 para-athletes and coach­es from the Fiji Paralympic Committee across all five sports.

The president of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons, from Brazil is visiting Fiji for the first time attending the regional confer­ence of the Oceania National Olympic Committees taking place in Nadi this week.

The event starts at 2pm where the IPC president will visit the Paralympic Sports exhibition and visit the five sports stations to see Fiji’s new Paralympic talent being harnessed.

The IPC president will be accompanied by 25 dele­gates and partners from National Paralympic Com­mittees from the Oceania region.

The Paralympic Sports Exhibition is proudly sup­ported by the British High Commission in Suva through their new partnership with the Fiji Para­lympic Committee that aims to strengthen partner­ships with National Federations and support talent identification to further develop Paralympic sport in Fiji.

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