IPC extend partnership with International Federation of Sports Medicine

The International Paralympic Committee have extended their partnership with the International Federation of Sport Medicine ©IPC

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has extended its partnership with the International Federation of Sport Medicine (FIMS) for a further five-and-a-half-years.

The two organisations have been in partnership since 2009 and the extension to the deal will take it beyond the Paralympic Games in the Japanese capital of Tokyo in 2020.

The new agreement will see the IPC and FIMS continue to work together in an attempt to improve the health, safety, performance and research of Para-athletes.

They are set to do this by working collaboratively to promote and enhance the new clinical and scientific discovery, and both organisations will have a presence at each other’s congresses - the VISTA Conference and the FIMS World Congress.

“The IPC has been working with FIMS since 2009 and I am delighted that our partnership will now continue for a further five years at least,” said IPC medical and scientific director Peter Van de Vliet.

“For the last six years FIMS has worked closely with the IPC, assisting in areas such as medical, sports science, anti-doping and classification.

Image title — This year's VISTA conference in the Spanish city of Girona will see the two organisations share further knowledge ©AFP/Getty Images

“This will continue through to Tokyo 2020 as we explore options for including topics and matters related to the Paralympic Movement and Para-athletes in future FIMS initiatives.

“Through this partnership we aim to increase knowledge about the needs and opportunities in Paralympic sports by encouraging the involvement of scientists, physicians and other professionals within FIMS.”

The 2015 VISTA Conference is due to take place from October 7 to 10 in Girona, Spain, which will give both the IPC and FIMS the chance to continue discussions surrounding areas they have highlighted for improvement.

The theme of the Conference, which includes a stellar list of high-profile speakers including Faculty of Family Medicine at McMaster University in Canada Margo Mountjoy as well as Ciro Winckler of São Paulo Federal University and Raymond So of the Hong Kong Sports Institute, has a theme of “securing the future of young Para-athletes”.