Inas, the International Federation for sport for para-athletes with an intellectual disability has reached an agreement with the World Taekwondo Federation to include taekwondo as a demonstration sport in the 2015 Inas Global Games.

The decision reflects the World Taekwondo Federation’s ongoing commitment to making taekwondo accessible for all and follows an agreement signed between the two organisations earlier this year in June.  As part of the agreement WTF will increase its efforts to promote taekwondo for athletes with an intellectual disability throughout the world by working closely with its national federations to further develop the sport within those nations.

President of the World Taekwondo Federation, Chungwon Choue, said:

“It is an honour for para-taekwondo to be included as a demonstration sport in the 2015 Inas Global Games. Inas has done an excellent job in promoting sports for athletes with an intellectual disability for over twenty years and we are extremely excited about the opportunity to work with them. We look forward to learning from their vast experience and expertise in order to develop para-taekwondo further.”

Inas was formed in 1985 and has grown to a membership of more than 65 nations across the world, representing many thousands of athletes with an intellectual disability. The Inas Global Games, held every four years, is the largest sporting event for elite athletes with an intellectual disability and features World Championship competition in seven sports. More than 1000 athletes are expected to compete at the next Global Games in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 2015. Taekwondo is the first demonstration sport to be confirmed on the programme.

Nick Parr, Inas Executive Director, explained:

“Inas is delighted to see para-taekwondo added to the programme. The decision is a recognition of the commitment made by WTF to create more competitive opportunities for athletes with an intellectual disability, and I look forward to seeing the sport develop over the coming years”.

 

Portugal have beaten France in the 7th World Basketball Championships. The game finished 56-37 as Portugal retained the title they won in 2010.

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Inas is to receive a grant of more than €14,000 to fund a project to develop opportunities in Africa for athletes with an intellectual disability.

The project is one of 30 to receive funding from the Agitos Foundation – launched by the International Paralympic Committee to promote disability sport development around the World – and is funded by the recent IOC-IPC partnership agreement.

Inas identified development across all five continental regions as one its key aims in its recently published strategic plan, as it works to become a more global organisation. Despite its size, there are currently few African nations in membership of Inas and few athletes registered to compete in the intellectual disability classification. No athletes from Africa competed within the classification at the recent Paralympic Games in London.

Through the project, Inas aims to put in place a development taskforce who will build partnerships with disability sports providers and existing competition organisers to raise awareness of Inas and sport for athletes with an intellectual disability, build understanding of the eligibility and classification process, and begin to identify the pathways so that more athletes have an opportunity to progress in competition.

Nick Parr, Inas Executive Director thanked the Agitos Foundation for their support. “We were delighted to learn that our application had been successful as it helps our work to ensure more athletes, from more nations, have the opportunity to enjoy and succeed in sport. Inas membership has grown to an all-time high this year and I hope that the project will enable us to support more nations to be inclusive of athletes with an intellectual disability”.

 

 

The contract between Inas and the Local Organising Committee of the 2015 Inas Global Games was signed this week in a brief ceremony. The week long event takes place in Guayaquil, Ecuador and features elite sport competition for up to 1000 athletes with an intellectual disability in seven sports.

The contract was signed by Nick Parr, Inas Executive Director and Juan Carlos Araujo, President of the organising committee.