2016 Rio Paralympics - Seychelles delegation touches down in Rio |06 September 2016

The three-member delegation of Seychelles that will be taking part in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, arrived in the city yesterday, ready to fly the Seychelles flag.

Cyril Charles will be the athlete competing for Seychelles in the javelin throw event at the games and he is accompanied by his coach Vincent Cedras and Dr Lucia Banane.

This year marks the first time Seychelles takes part in the Paralympic games since 1992, where it was the same Cyril Charles who competed in athletics and swimming, along with Elvis Victor who competed in athletics during the games which was held in Barcelona, Spain.

This year’s Paralympic Games marks the biggest event the Paralympic Association of Seychelles (Pas) have had athletes competing in, which is another milestone for the fast-growing association.

The Seychelles delegation’s appearance at the games is also in large part due to the contribution of Barclays Bank Seychelles, who last week sponsored R90,000 to the athletes heading to Rio, which took care of most of their expenses.

It was the managing director of Barclays Bank Seychelles, Johan Van Schalkwyk, who presented the cheque in the ceremony last week, to the chairman of the Pas, Alain Volcère.

The 2016 Paralympics will be the fifteenth Paralympic Games and is a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It will be held from September 7 to September 18, making it the first Summer Paralympics to be held during the host city's wintertime.

This will mark the first time a South American city hosts the event, the second Southern Hemisphere city and nation, the first one being Sydney for the 2000 Summer Paralympics. It is also the first time a Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country hosts the event. These Games will see the introduction of two new sports to the Paralympic programme: canoeing and the Para triathlon.

The lead-up to these Paralympics have been met with major financial issues, which were primarily attributed to tepid sponsor interest and ticket sales. These shortcomings have resulted in cuts to volunteer staffing and transport, the re-location of events and the partial deconstruction of the Deodoro Olympic Park. However, none of these cuts have affected the Games itself.

The IPC unanimously voted to ban Russian athletes from the 2016 Summer Paralympics in response to the discovery of a state-sponsored doping programme.

S.N