Inas is looking for qualified psychologists to join its international Eligiblity Panel. The panel of volunteers works under the direction of the Inas Eligibility Committee and is responsible for assessing athlete primary eligibility applications.
For further details, please visit the vacancies page.
Entries are invited for the Australian Track and Field Championships, which take place in Melbourne in April. For the first time, the event is sanctioned by Inas.
The Australian Open Tennis Championships began yesterday with 43 players with an intellectual disability (31 men, 12 women), including 4 entries from the USA and 2 from Japan.
The event, now in its 17th year, is sanctioned by Inas.
The Championships are attached to the Australian Open and have attracted a large number of entries with all players enjoying the good weather and great facilities. The influx of international players has been welcomed by Tennis Australia and the Australian players who are enjoying the increased profile and additional competition.
With players from several other countries expressing interest in the Championships organisers are looking forward to a greater international presence in 2015.
Players will play singles and doubles over three days with finals to be played at Melbourne Park on Saturday the 25th of January.
Following the Championships there will be a match between Australia and the USA in Benalla played on grass courts.
Inas has today officially launched its bid to include basketball for athletes with an intellectual disability in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games programme.
If successful, the sport would join athletics, swimming and table tennis – the only sports that currently include competition for the classification group – within the Paralympic programme.
On submitting the bid, Amaury Russo (Inas President) said “We realise that the application process is a very competitive process and we face tough competition from other sports. However, basketball for athletes with an intellectual disability is not a new sport within the Paralympic Games, but a re-instatement of a sport that already featured until 2000 in Sydney. By Tokyo, 20 years and 4 Paralympic Games will have passed without ID Basketball, and it is time to put that right”.
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”.
Inas have confirmed that Brazil will host the 2014 Inas World Football Championships in venues across Sao Paolo. In awarding the event to Brazil, Inas has continued the tradition of following the hosts of the FIFA World Cup.
The event, which will take place in August, will feature 12 teams and is one of the largest events on the Inas calendar.
John Ball, Inas Sport Director for Football said “I am delighted that Inas has made this decision and am sure that the event will be a fantastic success. The event is the centrepiece of our football programme, and will enhance our work to grow participation”.
Portugal have beaten France in the 7th World Basketball Championships. The game finished 56-37 as Portugal retained the title they won in 2010.
Earlier Australia beat Greece to take 3rd place in Ankara, Turkey.
The seventh Inas basketball championships will take place in Ankara, Turkey next week. From October 22- 27, men’s teams will compete from Australia, France, Portugal, Greece, Poland and Turkey.
The tournament will take place at the Ankara Arena, which opened in April 2010 and has hosted many international competitions since, including the FIBA 2010 World Championships.
Inas President Jose Amaury Russo hopes to one day see basketball included in the Paralympic Games and this event will be a step on that journey. “I believe that basketball can be a springboard for the development of team sport and for the athletes of Inas,” he said. “I pay tribute to the work, dedication and commitment of all involved.”
Dr. Geoff Smedley, President of Inas Europe welcomes teams to Ankara “With all the support that is being offered I am sure we will all enjoy excellent championships,” he said. “I look forward to seeing our players compete and I also look forward to meeting many old friends and making some new friends with the teams.”
Games will be played in the afternoons with the bronze and gold medal games happening October 27 at 14:00 and 16:00.
Results will be available from the event website.
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 IPC have confirmed that, subject to the normal event selection criteria, the 200 Individual Medley event has been added to the programme for the 2016 Paralympic Games for swimmers with an intellectual disability. This is in addition to the existing programme within the classification – 100m Breaststroke, 100m Backstroke and 200m Freestyle.
The event featured in the recent IPC World Swimming Championships in Montreal and will remain on the World Championship programme through to the Paralympic Games in Rio De Janeiro.
The announcement follows the earlier decision to add the 400m sprint to the athletics programme and brings the total number of medal events for athletes with an intellectual disability in Paralympic events to 18.
Virtus is the brand name of the International Sports Federation for athletes with intellectual impairment and is a founding member of the International Paralympic Committee. Registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in the UK (1173901)