Canoeing Ireland Join Paralympics Ireland

With para-canoeing set to form part of the Rio 2016 Paralympics, Canoeing Ireland are keen to develop the sport and identify and support athletes with hopes of representing Ireland at the Olympic Games.

Canoeing Ireland's Olympic Sprint Chairman Eamon Fleming was on hand to thank Paralympics Ireland for accepting Canoeing Ireland into the Paralympics family.

"We are very excited to be a part of the Paralympics family and see great potential in growing paracanoeing in the future"

Eamon informed the Paralympics Committee that only last weekend in the first Sprint Regatta race of the year in Nottingham "we were inspired to see paracanoeistPatrick O Leary finished 2nd in the men 200M event in very tough conditions this race also served as the team selection for the Team GB Paracanoeing who are ranked in the world top 3 for paracanoeing.

Also now paddling his own canoe for Rio is 2 time rowing paralympian Kevin De Tot.

Kevin is currently training out of Richmond canoe club in London which is a home away from home for Irish paddlers of the years.

Karl Dunne CEO of Canoeing Ireland said "we are delighted to have had instant success with Patrick's result in Nottingham, he will now compete at the European Championships in Portugal this summer. Canoeing Ireland look forward to working with Liam and his team on the road to rio.