The winners of the 1^st World Intellectual Impairment Sport Awards have been revealed in an exciting and emotional ceremony in Sheffield, Great Britain.

In a double sweep for Hong Kong, Ka Man Wong was voted Best Female Athlete whilst teammate Wai Lok Tang took the Best Male Athlete. Ka Man, table tennis, won gold in the 2012 Paralympic Games after winning the Women’s Singles Class 11 and then gold again in the 2014 Asian Para-Games held in Incheon, Korea whilst Wai Lok (17) is a talented swimmer who also competed at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. He took a further silver medal at the 2014 Asian Para Games taking the Asian Record of 200M Freestyle.

He has taken a number of gold medals in World Intellectual Impairment Sport competition and is ranked in the top 3 in both Asian and World competition.

In the Unsung Hero Category, Paul Burns MBE (UK) was the winner. Paul retired as GB Athletics Team Manager in 2014 after 12 years in the role – during which time he coached and managed many GB athletes to international success in World Intellectual Impairment Sport competition.

The final award category was the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Hall of Fame recognizing the lifetime achievement of an individual. In fact, World Intellectual Impairment Sport inducted 3 members – its former Presidents Bernard Atha CBE (UK), Jos Mulder (The Netherlands) and Dr Bob Price (UK) – in hour of their outstanding efforts to promote sport globally for athletes with an intellectual disability.

Amaury Russo, World Intellectual Impairment Sport President, congratulated all the finalists and winners “Sport for athletes with an intellectual disability does not enjoy the same media profile as other areas of para-sport so I am delighted that World Intellectual Impairment Sport has introduced these awards to honour and recognize the outstanding achievements of athletes and those who work behind the scenes”.

The Awards Ceremony coincided with the 2015 World Intellectual Impairment Sport General Assembly and was attended by member organizations and representatives from the Sheffield area, where the organization in registered.

Inas, the International Federation for sport for athletes with an intellectual disability within the Paralympic movement has today announced the shortlisted nominees for the 1^st Inas Awards which take place in April.

The Awards are a new event recognizing the achievements of athletes with an intellectual disability and the many people who support support them.

For ‘Best Male Athlete’, the shortlisted finalists are Lenine Cuhna (Portugal) and Wai Lok Tang (Hong Kong).

Lenine has collected an incredible 163 international medals in a 14 year career and is the World Record holder in both Heptathlon, Indoor Pentahlon and Triple Jump.

At 17 years of age, Wai Lok is an established international swimmer holding a number of Asian records including 200m Freestyle.

For ‘Best Female Athlete’, the finalists are Bethany Firth (Great Britain) and Ka Man Wong (Hong Kong).

Bethany was a 2012 Paralympic gold-medalist in the 100m Backstroke and competed in the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Ka Man, table tennis, is ranked 7^th in the world and no. 2 in Asia.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on 11^th April in Sheffield, UK, where the winner of the ‘Unsung Hero Award’ – an award that recognises the contribution made by volunteers and coaches will also be confirmed.

Finally, Inas will induct its first member to the Inas Hall of Fame which recognises a lifetime achievement in sport for athletes with an intellectual disability.

Amaury Russo, Inas President congratulated the shortlisted finalists. “Over the past few years, the performance of athletes with an intellectual disability has increased significantly and the Inas Awards are a long-overdue recognition of their achievements. I look forward to announcing the winners in April”.

The Awards are the first such event, and are expected to be held every two years to coincide with the Inas General Assembly. More than 14 nominations were received in the first year.

As the semi-finalists in this years Australian Open Tennis were being decided in Melbourne today, the competition for players with an intellectual disability got underway with 33 players competing for both singles and doubles titles.

For the second time, the event is sanctioned by Inas – the world governing body for sport for athletes with an intellectual disability – and runs in parallel to the Australian Open.

Kelly Wren will be looking to extend her undefeated run of games and her 18th consecutive title, while in the Men’s two-time champion Archie Graham will be looking for his third straight title. Both Graham and Kelly started well with wins in all games played today.

Tennis is a sport that is growing rapidly within the Inas programme with a number of sanctioned events complementing the annual World Championships. Later in 2015, the sport is one of nine to feature in the 4th Inas Global Games that take place in Ecuador.

Nick Parr, Executive Director of Inas explained “Until 2013, many of Inas’ tennis players had just one international opportunity each year, however by partnering with existing national championships such as this one organized by Tennis Australia, we have been able to increase the number of competitions which has lead to an increase in players”.

The 2015 event takes place at Melbourne Park and concludes on Saturday.

For live results visit the event website.

Professor Jan Burns (UK), Inas Head of Eligibility, today received an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for services to people with a learning disability.

The New Year Honours list recognises the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the United Kingdom and we would like to congratulate Jan on her well-earned recognition.