Disability Sport Wales
Chwaraeon Anabledd Cymru
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Football to join Paralympic World Cup line-up
Seven-a-side football for athletes with cerebral palsy will join the line-up for the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester later this year.
The sport will take the place of cycling at the sixth annual event, which will run from 25-31 May.
Also included are swimming, athletics and wheelchair basketball.
For the first time, the event will also feature a team challenge which will see GB take on teams from Europe, the Americas and the Rest of the World.
The football event will feature the Netherlands, the USA and the Republic of Ireland and will be a key part of the GB team’s preparations ahead of the European Championships in Glasgow in August.
They competed at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing for the first time since 1992, finishing seventh with the Netherlands fifth and Ireland sixth.
The game, which consists of two 30-minute halves, is played on a reduced field of play with no offside rule and permission for one-handed throw-ins.
BT Paralympic World Cup schedule
25 May: Athletics, Manchester Regional Arena
26-29 May: Seven-a-side Football, Manchester Regional Arena
27-30 May: Wheelchair Basketball, Manchester Regional Arena
30-31 May: Swimming, Manchester Aquatics Centre
Great Britain captain and goalkeeper Jordan Raynes is from Manchester and is hoping a home crowd can support the team.
“I’m very excited that our sport has been included in the Paralympic World Cup. I live and play in Manchester and to have an international competition in my home city means so much to me,” he said.
“To have an elite event outside the Paralympics will be imperative as we look towards the 2012 London Games.”
Cycling’s omission from the line-up comes following a review of the event after UK Sport withdrew its funding to concentrate on individual sports rather than multi-sport competitions.
Organisers say the move will enable other Paralympic sports to receive key competition and exposure in the build-up to 2012.
Starting from this year, the event will also showcase other Paralympic sports as exhibition matches with Goalball the first to be included.
Of the other sports, the GB men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball teams will be using the event as preparations for the World Championships in Birmingham later this year while swimming also has a World Championships later this year and the athletics World Championships take place early next year in New Zealand.
The competition is the largest international multi-sport comeptition in elite disability sport and in the past has featured top Paralympic names including Ellie Simmonds, Dave Roberts, Natalie du Toit, Oscar Pistorius and Dave Weir.
BBC Sport will broadcast highlights and live coverage of the event from the Manchester Aquatics Centre on Monday 31 May.
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