New Delhi: World Para Athletics chief Paul Fitzgerald is confident the World Championships, being organised in India for the first time, will not just create an ecosystem for athletes with disabilities in the country but will also act as a major stopover for the Paralympics in three years from now.
Fitzgerald, an American with a love for cricket as his parents are from Australia, also expressed the possibility of the sport becoming a part of the Paralympic curriculum.
“Over a hundred nations are coming to New Delhi (for World Para Athletics beginning September 27). It’s a massive achievement for them (athletes) to even reach a world championships, especially after the Paralympic Games taking place last year (in Paris)…
“…what an opportunity to keep that momentum going,” said Fitzgerald during the medal-unveiling ceremony of the World Para Athletics Championships here on Thursday.
“We’re already looking forward to another Paralympic Games in three years’ time and this is the start of that, the first major para sport event, the largest single para sport event in the world and the first one to take place after the Paris Games.”
He said, India, with the kind of investment it was making in sports, will ensure an “upward trajectory” in para sports disciplines as well.
“If we see the trajectory that athletes from India are on, the investment that the government, the investment that PCI (Paralympic Committee of India) and the workers are doing, we see nothing but incredible things.
On the possibility of cricket becoming a part of the Paralympic curriculum after the sport was included on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics program, Fitzgerald said “there’s a possibility” provided an ecosystem is in place.
“What’s important to note is that the entire Paralympic ecosystem can be raised by an event like this (World Para Athletics Championships). My parents are from Australia. I know cricket, I know that it’s important to this country and I think the entire sporting ecosystem should be looked after because there’s a saying that rising tide lifts all boats.
“So the more successful we are here the more opportunity this presents from funding, from government, from funding, from commercial sponsors for the average person in their community to go and assist someone with a disability to try sport, to get engaged into the entire ecosystem, and it makes it possible.
“Of course there’ll be athletes here, there’ll be athletes in Australia, in England, in West Indies who will be inspired by watching cricket at the LA 2028 and, if we put that platform together and we highlight the excellence of para-athletics and other para-sports, there’s a possibility,” he added.
As many as 2,200 para athletes from 104 countries will participate in the World Para Athletics Championships.
