PARALYMPICS Paralympic Sports on the lookout for Ireland's next Paralympic generation

The Paralympic Council of Ireland (PCI) today (12th March) announced details of the ParaLions Athlete Search Day to be held in Dublin City University Sports Complex on Saturday May 2nd. The event will feature Irish athletes who competed at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, along with a number of sports demonstrations and a series of exhibition stands for each sport involved.

The athlete search day is a coordinated effort by all the Paralympic sports in Ireland to encourage people with physical disabilities and vision impairments to participate in sport, with the ultimate aim of unearthing Irish talent for the London 2012 Paralympic Games and beyond.

Each sport will provide information on how to get involved, in addition to which, those attending on the day will be given the opportunity to try out sports alongside Irelands premier athletes. The sports demonstrations include Table Tennis, Boccia, Football, Wheelchair Basketball & Wheelchair Rugby.

The highlight of the day will be a series of Athlete Testimonials in which Irish Paralympians will outline their story of their involvement in Paralympic Sport. The testimonials will be given by:

• David Malone - four time Paralympian in swimming winning the gold medal at Sydney 2000
• Michael McKillop - Gold medalist and world record holder from the Beijing 2008 Games in athletics.
• Padraic Moran - Quarter-finalist in his first Paralympic Games in Beijing in the sport of Boccia.

If you have a physical disability or vision impairment, this is a fantastic opportunity to come along, meet Ireland's Paralympic heroes and participate alongside them The Paralympic movement in Ireland wants to see you and urges you to attend for at least a portion of the day on May 2nd at DCU and, who knows, this could be start of your path to representing Ireland at the Paralympic Games.The Sports involved on the day include Archery, Athletics, Boccia, Cycling, Equestrian, Football, Goalball, Judo, Rowing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Triathlon, Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby, Wheelchair Tennis.


Speaking about the ParaLions Athlete Search Day, Beijing 2008 Gold Medallist Michael McKillop stated: "It's great to see the PCI mobilising all the Paralympic sports in order to showcase the opportunity that Paralympic sport provides. I urge all people with disabilities to come along on the day and get involved. It should be a great day out and hopefully we will see some of the people that come along progress to the Irish Team at future Paralympic Games."


For further information refer to www.pcireland.ie or contact the Paralympic Council of Ireland at 01-6251175.

John Fulham
Communications Officer
Paralympic Council of Ireland
Tel: 087-2709182
e-mail: Communications@pcireland.ie
www.pcireland.ie