Strong Irish Team Of Five Announced For Paralympic Swimming European Championships

Paralympics Ireland has announced a five strong team for the Paralympic Swimming (IPC) European Championships which are set to take place in Eindhoven from August 4th - 10th.

The team, which is sponsored by Allianz, features three swimmers who medalled at last summer's World Championships; Double Paralympian (Beijing 2008 and London 2012) Ellen Keane alongside London Paralympians James Scully and Laurence McGivern. They are joined by fellow London Paralympian Jonathan McGrath, and newcomer at this level fifteen year old Ailbhe Kelly. Paralympic gold medallist from the London Games Darragh McDonald will not be traveling, instead focusing on recovery from recent surgery.

Almost 400 swimmers from 40 countries will be competing at these Championships which will be held at the Peter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium. The Irish team will travel there on the back of a warm weather preparatory training camp in the Canary Islands from July 18th to 29th.

Looking ahead to the Championships Performance Manager at Paralympics Ireland Dave Malone, himself a three time Paralympic Games medallist said; 'The team we have going to Eindhoven is a really strong one with the swimmers looking forward to benchmarking themselves against all the best swimmers in Europe. All five are targeting lifetime best swims at the event, and should they swim to their potential we are hopeful of podium finishes.'

All heats and finals from the event will be streamed live on www.paralympicsport.tv and there is also a website at www.eindhoven2014.com The event will also be covered live and via highlights on Channel 4. Paralympics Ireland will be issuing press releases daily with details of the Irish performances, and Sportsfile will be issuing images of the Irish swimmers reproduction fee free during the event.