The International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) has opened nominations for the 2019 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Awards and Hall of Fame, recognising some of the best talent and leading lights from its field.

The award ceremony will take place during October’s World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games in Brisbane, Australia – the world’s biggest high performance sports event for athletes with intellectual impairments.

As well as the Hall of Fame, nominations are being accepted for the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Awards in four categories:

• Best Male
• Best Female
• Best Team
• Unsung Hero

The Best Team has been added for 2019 to reflect the fact that World Intellectual Impairment Sport has five team sports under its banner. It will also be the first awards where athletes competing in II2 (for athletes with a more significant impairment) and II3 (for athletes with high functioning autism) can be nominated since their addition to the programme in some sports in 2017.

For athlete and team awards, performances must have been achieved between 1 January 2017 – 31 March 2019 and athletes must appear on the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Masterlist.

World Intellectual Impairment Sport President, Marc Truffaut, said: “These awards are a great way for our members to celebrate their best athletes and reward their outstanding commitment and achievements in their sports.

“Whilst only in its third edition the winners so far are widely recognised as people who have not only reached the top of many podiums, but have helped change the world by changing perceptions.

“The Unsung Hero award is also an opportunity for the membership and committees to put forward volunteers and coaches who have truly revolutionised the way they work and made a big impact on their organisation.

“Finally the Hall of Fame is a chance for athletes, administrators and leaders who have had a long-lasting impact to be forever immortalised in the history of World Intellectual Impairment Sport, an organisation with a 30-year pedigree of contributing to Paralympic and non-Paralympic sports.”

At the last edition in 2017, Poland’s 1,500m T20 world and Paralympic champion Barbara Niewiedzial won Best Female in recognition of her outstanding performance at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Portugal’s Lenine Cunha, also a track and field athlete who has since brought his international medal total to more than 200, was named Best Male.

The Unsung Hero award, which recognises the crucial role of volunteers to deliver World Intellectual Impairment Sport’ work, went to Antonio Sampaio Maia for his work on behalf of the World Intellectual Impairment Sport member in Portugal – ANDDI (The National Sports Association for Intellectual Disability).

Two years ago Marie Little OAM was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining athletes and former Presidents. Little was a founding member of World Intellectual Impairment Sport in the 1980s and worked tirelessly for the organisation for more than 25 years.

The World Intellectual Impairment Sport Awards and Hall of Fame are entering their third edition and have been held every two years since 2015. Nominations can be made via an online form until 30 April.

The 2019 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games are expected to attract 1,000 athletes competing in nine sports from 12-19 October.

The International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) has announced that tennis competitions at the 2019 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games in Brisbane, Australia, from 12-19 October, will be endorsed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

It is the first time that the ITF have recognised an World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games in this way and joins the support of four other International Federations – the International Table Tennis Federation, World Taekwondo, World Para Athletics and World Para Swimming.

World Intellectual Impairment Sport President Marc Truffaut said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive the backing of the International Tennis Federation for Brisbane 2019 in another historic first for a Global Games.

“It shows that a growing number of sports governing bodies are seeing the value in the supporting the world’s biggest high performance sports event for athletes with an intellectual impairment.

“The calibre of the event this October – from both and competition and organisational perspective – is expected to be the best yet. This news adds to that feeling as the countdown continues.”

ITF President, David Haggerty, said: “The World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games are a fantastic event which the ITF is delighted to endorse. The ITF is committed to ensuring the long-term growth and sustainability of tennis as a sport to be enjoyed by all ages and abilities.  Good luck to all of the athletes competing in the 2019 Games.”

Robyn Smith, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Games Company, said: “The letter of endorsement from ITF for the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games Tennis event is not only historical for World Intellectual Impairment Sport and the Global Games, but excellent recognition for the outstanding players who will compete in Brisbane in October 2019.”

The 2019 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games are expected to attract 1,000 athletes from around the world.

Table tennis, overseen by the International Table Tennis Federation, will see athletes able to achieve ranking points for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics according to the ITTF’s factor 20 status for the first time.

The other Paralympic sports on the Global Games programme – swimming and athletics – will be recognised by World Para Swimming and World Para Athletics respectively.

Para taekwondo, governed by World Taekwondo, will also be sanctioned.

Basketball, cycling, futsal, rowing, cricket and hockey competitions will act as the World Championships for each sport, with World Intellectual Impairment Sport acting as the current International Federation.

More information about the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games can be found at the official website or at www.inas.org. Entries for 2019 are currently open.

The International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) have announced that the third Para equestrian video competition is open for entries until 29 September 2019.

The innovative competition format aims to encourage the growth of the sport in lieu of a standard competition format where athletes would also have to transport horses.

In past editions entries have been received from all over the world including Russia, Spain and Australia and have gradually increased. At the first event in 2017, four countries made submissions growing to five in 2018.

Spain’s Sonja Villalba is the current champion having ridden Donauzauber to success last year.

In order to enter, riders are required to follow set rules. These include a requirement for horses to wear bandages to indicate the test has not been performed and judged at another competition.

The test is an International Federation for Equestrian Sport (FEI) Grade IV Novice A. Videos are assessed and judged by a panel of FEI Para equestrian judges.

Entries are open to World Intellectual Impairment Sport members and non-members. Information about how to enter can be found on the World Intellectual Impairment Sport events page.

About World Intellectual Impairment Sport Para Equestrian

Equestrian was added to the World Intellectual Impairment Sport sport programme in 2016 in the form of dressage. The organisation wants to offer the best riders with intellectual impairments the chance to compete regularly.

More information about the sport, including the rules and history, can be found at the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Para Equestrian page.

By Gaurav Mokhasi | For World Intellectual Impairment Sport

To people who do not know her better, Australia’s Caytlyn Sharp, with her love for music by 5 Seconds of Summer and complaints about mandatory attendance at school, would seem like any other 16-year-old.

But peek beyond the surface and another side emerges: a champion athlete who advocates passionately for equality.

In 2018 Sharp became an International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) #WeAreSport ambassador. This role required Sharp to set-up Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts and use them to promote her life as an athlete. The aim was to show other women and girls like Sharp that they too could become elite athletes.

Those accounts have inspired and given several girls the initial nudge to compete and thrive in para-athletics.

“I saw something in them and helped them do a couple of events with me first,” Sharp said. “Soon, some were competing at the district level, state and even, nationals. They said it was the best experience of their high-school.”

Sharp began swimming when she was eight and later transitioned to athletics. Within no time in 2017, aged just 14, Sharp represented Australia for the first time at the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

“It was noisy and hard to understand people because everyone spoke different languages,” Sharp said of her first major competition. “But winning the high jump and standing on the podium with the Australian anthem playing was really good. I couldn’t stop smiling.” Sharp jokes that the photo was taken at the moment when her smile was at its worst, before her mother, Cindy McDougall, corrects her, laughing, “I actually think it’s the best smile in a photo she’s ever had.”

Sharp is looking forward immensely to her home World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games in Brisbane from 12- 19 October. She has not been to the city in over ten years, and is thrilled by the prospect of having her great-grandmother watch her compete live.

“She’s actually 86 and I haven’t seen her since I was four or five. I’d love to meet her again and catch up”, Sharp said fondly.

While high jump remains her primary focus, she will also compete in the triple jump and long jump and try out for the 100m and 200m races, “just for fun”. Between now and October, Sharp will be competing in the National Championships in Sydney and several preparatory tournaments at the school, district and regional levels.

An athlete with autism, Sharp often faces problems with crowds, even when they think they are being encouraging. Loud cheers, the sound of clapping and people calling out her name disrupt her rhythm and make it difficult for her to focus before a race. “But they’re normally all right once I signal them to stop”, she said.

Sharp also dislikes when people, especially athletes without impairments, treat her differently:

“They think I’m dumb and talk to me really slowly, often in a baby-voice or with hand actions!”

But things are steadily getting better. Sharp trains four days a week in Warrnambool with a group of able-bodied athletes and with them, she is always smiling and laughing, even after grueling training sessions. “They all understand me and I love training with them”, she said.

Sharp credits her best friend, Dayna Crees, who competes in long jump and has cerebral palsy, for improving her outlook towards competition and life in general. Referring to Crees, Sharp says, “Though each event drains her physically and mentally, she is always smiling. She always makes it a point to go up and thank everybody, even when she doesn’t win or is feeling angry inside.”

Australian long-jumper, Brooke Stratton, who competed at the Ro 2016 Olympics, has also been a long-time inspiration and mentor to Sharp. Sharp hopes to emulate her idol and compete at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, but she will most likely have to compete in long jump, as neither high jump nor triple jump (Sharp’s preferred competitions) are Paralympic events in the T20 category at the moment.

Through all of this, Sharp has continued her advocacy for Para sports and women in athletics. Her concerted efforts have resulted in the Hampden Specialist School, where she studied previously, starting a comprehensive sport programme allowing students with intellectual impairments to compete in cross-country, swimming and athletics at a state-level.

“I love getting all the women to get out there, have a go and do something in sports,” Sharp said: “They really enjoy it once they try it, and I enjoy seeing them smile.”