World Intellectual Impairment Sport Athletics Championships open in Bangkok

The 11^th World Intellectual Impairment Sport Athletics Championships open today in Bangkok – Thailand, the first time the event has been held on the Asian continent.

Taking place every 2 years, the event features a full programme of track and field athletics, and is approved by World Para Athletics.

Lenine Cuhna (Portugal) and Barbara Niewiedzial (Poland) are amongst the 130 athletes from 19 nations competing at the championships. Both will receive a special presentation during the opening ceremony having been voted Best Male and Best Female Athletes at the recent World Intellectual Impairment Sport Awards following their performances in the Rio Paralympic Games and in World Intellectual Impairment Sport competition over the past two years.

For the first time, the event also features a youth-age competition category. World Intellectual Impairment Sport President Marc Truffaut explained “As performance standards rise year on year, it becomes harder for younger athletes to break into the sport. This year World Intellectual Impairment Sport will be launching a number of new initiatives to help grow sport for athletes with an intellectual impairment and to support our younger athletes into the competition pathway”.

The event takes place in Bangkok’s Supachalasai Stadium between May 15^th and 19^th.